Unwinnable
by LaughingLefou
Summary: This year was going to be different. He was going to make some friends, find one (and only one!) girlfriend, become a hunter and make his parents proud! It would be easy, right? All he had worry about was Grimm, a group of psychopathic criminal masterminds, international politics and most sinister of all...his own Semblance? Avoiding a harem has never been this hard...
1. Chapter 1

_I do not own RWBY. That belongs to Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum, may his soul rest in peace._

* * *

 **[?]**

As he ran down the third corridor that day, he came to one conclusion.

 _I shouldn't have skipped out on cardio day!_

His breath was coming out in ragged pants as he clutched his sides, leaning against the cool stucco wall for support. He could hear them; hundreds of footfalls pounding on the floor as they came ever closer with each passing second. He had to get out of there, yesterday! The young man's sneakers beat a rapid staccato on the marble flooring beneath them as he ran as hard as he could, chest heaving with each desperate gasp of air he took. Sweat dripped down his blond, messy hair, getting into his eyes and stinging them. Reaching deep within himself, the young man drew upon the light and power of his soul, or Aura, diffusing it through his body.

Immediately he could feel the aching in his chest and legs dissipate as the lactic acid building up dispersed, leaving him feeling ready to keep running. The sound of the crowd behind him was growing stronger however, and he grimaced, pushing off the ground as hard as he could to put more distance between himself, and _them_. Sapphire blue eyes rapidly shifted in their sockets as their owner glanced about for an egress to vacate the premises post haste. His lips turned up into a desperately joyful smile, the kind of insane smile a man trapped on an island would give when he noticed a rescue plane.

 _Yes! This is Professor Lefou's class room! All I have to do is take a left from here, and it's a straight shot until I hit the Bullhead loading docks!_

The young man pumped his fist and took off once more as fast as his overworked legs could carry him. As he turned the corner, his good mood only further increased when he saw the group of people standing before him. Hundreds of boys and men, Professors and Hunters-in-Training alike, were standing like a wall, weapons at the ready and a look of determination on their faces. They looked every bit ready to die, like they were ready to take on the biggest horde of Grimm ever seen yet.

"Jaune!" a voice shouted.

Jaune Arc, Hunter-in-Training at the Vacuo Preliminary School, broke out into a full on sprint upon laying eyes upon his friends. "Sun! Neptune!"

Another blond haired boy with surprisingly defined abs stepped forward, a long brown tail swinging behind him. "Jaune! Quickly! We'll hold them back, you have to get to the Bullheads!"

A boy with blue hair and goggles clapped Jaune on the shoulder when he'd run into range, his gaze serious. "Jaune...I just want to tell you...it's been an honor."

Jaune hung his head, nodding slowly. "All of you...I promise, I won't forget your sacrifice! I'll carry your hopes and dreams on my shoulders!" The blond hunter-in-training raised his head, blue eyes watering with tears, clenching his hand into a fist.

The rest of the men surrounding him all voiced their agreements, some shouting words of encouragement, some shaking his hand or clasping his shoulders. The boy with the tail stepped forward and shook Jaune's hand. "Jaune...if this is the last time we meet, then let me tell you that you've been one hell of a friend. You...you're like a brother to me..."

Jaune clenched his teeth. "Damn it Sun! This can't be the end!"

Sun shook his head. "Look, there's almost no chance we can survive this. It's all we can do to hold _them_ back. You have to go, now!"

"I...this is all my fault-"

"NO!" A voice shouted. Everyone parted to reveal the Headmaster, an older man in a burgandy waistcoat and white dress shirt, khaki slacks and a golden cane. "You, Jaune...you alone carry our hopes and our dreams. You did only what every man here would have. You are not to blame. As your brothers and comrades in arms, we will, nay, _MUST_ fight for you! Go! And remember us fondly..."

Jaune sniffed back tears and nodded, raising a fist into the air. "Guys?" The crowd of men fell silent, only the sounds of the ever approaching footfalls and the whistle of the desert wind could be heard. "Give 'em hell."

The surrounding men roared their agreement, readying their weapons, and Jaune turned on his heel, rushing off once more as fast as his legs could take him, turning away so no one would see the tears falling from his face. He had a mission. He couldn't fail his brothers in arms now. His lips spoke a silent prayer to whoever would listen, that they'd be spared their fate.

Behind him, Sun and Neptune grimaced as the rumbling increased, weapons held out and ready. "H-hey, Sun?" Neptune spoke up, his voice shaky and quiet.

"Yeah, bro?"

"I...I just want to say...I'm sorry...I was the one who used up the last of your Mistralian shampoo..." Neptune admitted, his body shaking in fear and trepidation.

"It...it's cool bro. I...I got to admit...I was the one who told Gayl that you were into dudes..." Sun murmured.

His confession was met with silence and Sun slowly turned to his friend, only to see Neptune staring at him with a look so furious, the monkey Faunus couldn't help but laugh. "Y-y-y-you...b-b-bastard!" Neptune snarled, twitching furiously.

"You two! Enough!" The Headmaster snapped, slamming the tip of his cane onto the floor, his red eyes narrowing. "They come..."

Both boys fell quiet as their gazes fell forward, the rumbling finally managing to reach a crescendo and they swallowed hard. Behind them, they could hear the voice of one Nolan Porfiro, his voice weak and hoarse in his terror, mirroring the feelings of the men around him. "We are so dead..."

Sun's eyes narrowed, flipping Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang before him, and spoke one word, his voice quiet, firm, and yet so loud in the ears of the men surrounding him. "... _ **Schoolgirls**_..."

 **[Vacuo Preparatory Academy – Bullhead Loading Docks]**

Jaune felt the cool desert air caress his sweaty forehead and almost fell to his knees, about ready to start sobbing in relief. He could already hear the deafening sounds of battle behind him, and he swore that he could hear someone squealing his name, the sound being carried over the whistling of the desert winds. He swallowed nervously and continued running forward. In the distance, so beautiful to his terrified senses, Jaune could see it: the Bullhead to Beacon, silvery and shining in the Vacuo sun. _Freedom!_ He pumped what remaining Aura he could dredge up from the depths of his exhausted body, pushing himself harder, the distance between himself and the Bullhead seemingly both infinite and agonizingly close at once.

 _Pa-kow!_

He came to a screeching halt, blue eyes widened in shock and surprise. A gunshot rang out and a puff of dust shot up mere inches from his feet, leaving only a small crater as evidence that he'd almost been attacked. Jaune slowly turned around, the blood in his veins turning to ice as his gaze fell upon the rose colored hair and blue gray eyes of one May Zedong, the end of her sniper rifle still smoking as she jumped down from her perch above the entrance to the school. Her lips turned upward into a smirk as she walked towards Jaune's frozen form, her hips swaying gently.

"Don't leave Jaune..." May murmured softly as she got within hearing distance. "At least not without me..."

Jaune stumbled back, falling over onto his rear with a dull _thud_. "M-m-m-m-May? Y-you almost shot me!"

"Oh, don't worry, it was just a warning shot...I know you'd _never_ break my heart by leaving forever to another country, leaving me here all alone, loveless, never hearing your sweet words gracing me again..." May swayed forward until she was standing above Jaune, leaning forward and drawing one finger under his chin, smirking.

"H-h-how...did you..." He managed to squeak out, blue eyes filled with terror.

"Oh, I just wanted to make sure my dear, sweet Jaune wouldn't fly away from me." May's uncovered eye glinted dangerously and Jaune began to shiver, despite the desert heat.

Out of nowhere, Jaune could hear a small whine, and May suddenly flipped backward, an arrow whizzing just past her cheek and embedding itself in the wood of the door to the school behind her. Jaune scrambled to his feet and whirled around on his heel and began to silently swear to himself as he saw the olive eyes of Nebula Violetta as she appeared from behind the Bullhead. "N-Nebula?!"

Nebula winked at Jaune, sashaying forward and past him, stopping a few feet away from him. "Wait right there, Jaune. You wouldn't want to know what would happen if you were to get on that Bullhead and leave me behind..." As Jaune fell to the ground once more in unholy terror, the violet haired woman turned to May, who'd whipped out her sniper rifle once more, steadying the barrel. "Zedong, put down your weapon! It's obvious that Jaune and you would never work out! He's in love with me, and there's nothing you can do about it!"

Jaune whimpered and began to slowly crawl backward like Remnant's most terrified crab. He froze when May fired another shot, barely missing Nebula, who responded by jumping to the side, firing her crossbow another time. _I have to get out of here! The Bullhead can't wait forever!_ Jaune turned his head to see the pilot looking confused, his head tilted to the side. Throwing caution to the wind, Jaune jumped once more to his feet and took off running once more, eyes wide and filled with tears of fear and exhaustion.

He could hear cries of panic behind him, but Jaune didn't care. He took a flying leap...and landed stomach first against the edge of the Bullhead's open bay doors, knocking the air from his lungs. "Ooof!"

Nebula and May froze in their fighting, May with a handful of Nebula's hair and Nebula with her mouth full of May's fingers on her other hand, ready to bite down. The two girls winced sympathetically as Jaune hilariously slammed into the Bullhead, and they watched him slowly groan and get to his feet. It wasn't until Jaune had literally hauled himself into the Bullhead, and they heard his voice cry out with, " _Fly, you fool!_ " that the two girls let go of each other, eyes widening.

The entrance door to the school literally burst off its hinges and a torrent of girls rushed out. The rest of team NDGO stopped and cried out, "NO! JAUNE, COME BACK! PLEASE!"

Cries of the same caliber could be heard from the surrounding girls, hands outstretched. Some of the girls rushed forward, tears in their eyes. " _Jaune, I love you!_ "

Jaune gave a high-pitched scream and grabbed a hold of the Bullhead's door, pulling it closed. No sooner had he heard the latch to the door snap into the locked position, than the window cracked as a series of attacks (sure to incapacitate him) slammed against the Bullhead. " _For the love of god, get us out of here!_ " The pilot finally seemed to notice the danger they were in, and with a lurch, Jaune could feel the Bullhead lifting off the ground. The aircraft shook as a series of attacks slammed into it again and Jaune began to whimper loudly, curling up into a fetal position, softly sobbing.

It wasn't until the aircraft managed to level out and the last few pops and pings of longer distance weapons hitting the hull of the Bullhead finally stopped, that Jaune slowly got to his feet and looked out the window, seeing the sea of girls staring up at the Bullhead, looking indistinct from their height. The young boy sank to his knees, laughing maniacally, tears falling down his cheeks in relief. "We...we made it... _WE MADE IT!_ "

The pilot shook his head and closed the cockpit door, but Jaune couldn't care. He was too busy pumping his fist and jumping up and down, laughing and crying at the same time. _This time, it's gonna be different! When I get to Beacon, I'm going to make some friends, become an awesome Hunter, make my parents proud and have one, ONLY ONE girlfriend!_

Jaune continued to watch the desert landscape fly by, and his grin only grew wider.

 _And I won't let my stupid Semblance ruin my school life again!_

* * *

 **Unwinnable**

 _Opening Theme: "It's The End of the World (And I Feel Fine)" by R.E.M._

* * *

 **[One Week Later – Beacon Academy]**

Jaune whistled happily as he made his way off the Air Shuttle, a smile across his lips. Things were going to be better, he could feel it in his bones! Okay, so he ended up vomiting up his entire lunch on the trip to Beacon, and probably repelled the female population, but after his nearly disastrous escape from Vacuo, that was actually a blessing in disguise! The blond hunter-in-training strolled happily down the cobblestone walkway, gazing up at the parapets and architecture of Beacon Academy. However, he slowed to a stop and the cheerful look on his face suddenly became sorrowful. _Sun...Neptune...I hope they made it out okay…_

The blond hunter-in-training shook his head. _No! I can't let their sacrifice go to waste! This year will be different! I'm not going to let my stupid, stupid Semblance rule my life!_ Jaune's eyes narrowed as he gazed into the sky. _Sure, the Headmaster would say that I'm 'wasting a gift,' but that old bastard never had to run from...from…_ Jaune's mind flashed a scene of one week prior and he shivered, despite the warm sun beating down on him. _That._

It was the sound of an explosion and _someone_ yelling that brought his attention back down to Remnant, and he automatically turned to see what was going on. Some girl in a white dress with white hair was currently yelling at some poor red-hooded girl lying on the ground, a small crater surrounding her. Jaune frowned. _Nope. Not getting involved. None of my business. That's just gonna lead to more trouble._ He stuck his hands in his pockets and turned on his heel to walk away, only vaguely hearing the white haired girl give a haughty huff and the sound of the wheels of her trolly squeaking away.

He got no more than five steps forward before curiosity dragged his head back. Immediately he regretted doing so, because he saw the poor girl in the red hood looking downtrodden, her face clearly showing her emotions. _Poor girl...she looks like she doesn't know anyone here...probably just accidentally bumped into that other girl…_ The blond boy shook his head harder. _No! Getting involved is just going to lead to what happened in Vacuo!_ He turned away once more, but wasn't able to take a single step before his mind flip-flopped once again. _Then again, you're an Arc! You're like...obligated to go help her! Great Grampa Arc would tan your hide, or whatever it is old people do to punish young people for not going to her aid!_

With a groan, the hunter-in-training turned around again. The young girl had sat up, and had put her hood over her face, as though she were trying to hide her expression. Jaune strolled up to her and cleared his throat. "H-hey there. Need a hand?"

The young girl looked up, and Jaune swore he could see tears in her eyes before she quickly wiped her arm across them, eliminating any potential for said tears to be seen. She broke out into a smile that had Jaune's heart catch in his chest. _G-gah! Too cute!_ "Thanks! My name's Ruby!" The adorable hooded girl held out a hand and Jaune grasped it, helping her too her feet. The girl proceeded to smooth out her goth-loli style skirt before staring up at Jaune once more with her big silver eyes. "What's your name?"

Jaune began to open his mouth, but that's when he felt his head going dizzy, and the world before his very eyes turned to grays, blacks and whites, the color vanishing from his vision. The only color in the world around him came from his own hands and body. Time seemed to stop from what he could see, leaves having paused in mid fall from the trees around him. "No...no, no, no, no, nononononono! NO! NO! NOT AGAIN!" Jaune screamed. Ruby didn't respond, her face frozen in her happy expression. "Oh _come on_! I _just_ met her! I have to deal with this _already_!?"

Before Jaune's very eyes, a colored, holographic looking window appeared. The blond boy narrowed his eyes at it and turned away, crossing his arms with a 'hmph.' "Nope! I'm not doing it! You can bloody well go away!"

Silence. Jaune closed his eyes and waited...and waited…and waited…

Still more silence. No birds chirped, no wind blew, no adorably cute red girl spoke. Jaune gave a whimpering groan and turned around to see the holographic window floating still. He approached it and with a sigh, began reading the options before him.

 **A.) "The name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet and rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it."**

 **B.) "None of your business. Don't even know why I came over here."**

 **C.) "Jaune Arc, but that's not important. What is important, are your three sizes."**

 **D.) Put it in.**

Jaune stared incredulously for a few moments before he smacked his forehead. "You've got to be fucking kidding me. What's with option D? Put _what_ in _where_?! Oh god, this is Vacuo all over again! Okay, okay, I've got to calm down..." The blond boy pinched the bridge of his nose. "Obvious answer would be B." Jaune nodded...then shook his head. "No, I...I can't do that. Ruby looks so happy to finally have a friend...I can't be that big of a jack ass! Option C is just WAY too forward...damn it, it looks like Option A is the only way to go!" He slumped forward and whimpered again. "I just wanted to make friends...is that too much to ask?"

Hesitantly, the young man inched a hand out to the screen, and pressed the first option…

As if time had never stopped, Jaune felt a strange wrenching feeling pulling on his entire being and everything hit him at once; heat, sound, color and all. As if he were being controlled by some invisible puppeteer, Jaune felt his lips move and his voice speak out of his own volition. "Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, and rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it." To make matters worse, Jaune felt his hands moving like a pair of finger guns, his eye winking.

Inwardly, he winced. _Oh god, hear it comes!_ He heard Ruby give a laugh. "Do they?"

Jaune blinked. "Er...I guess?"

Ruby giggled again, and Jaune swore he heard a melody in his ear before another holographic window appeared in his vision, smaller and of a different color.

 **Ruby Rose is now friends with you!**

Jaune's eyes widened and he couldn't keep the grin off his face. _YES! JUST FRIENDS!_ He fought the urge to start jumping around and crying out for joy, even as Ruby started to walk forward. She stopped and turned around, innocent silver eyes gleaming. "So, you wanna see my weapon?!"

"S-sure!" Jaune answered enthusiastically. _Alright, I can do this! Everything is gonna be A-OK! Sun, Neptune…all my brothers…_

 _No longer will I be Jaune Arc, the Harem King!_

* * *

 _ **Author's Note: Okay, I know, I said Mastermind was the last fic I was going to be writing for the time being but...damn it, this fic was bouncing around in my head and I could NOT get rid of it, so I had to put it up here. I'm sure Jaune + Dating Sim Semblance isn't really original, but the idea is just too funny not to do, especially when he's actively trying to AVOID acquiring a harem. Hope you enjoy, and I'm currently working on Mastermind as we speak! Er...as you read…you know what I mean.**_

 _ **And as always, remember to leave a review!**_


	2. What Is It With Me And Sleep?

_I do not own RWBY_

* * *

 **Unwinnable**

 **Chapter 1: What Is It With Me And Sleep?**

* * *

The older man stepped onto the stage, his cane tapping on the floor with every step. Everyone had fallen silent when he'd entered, leading Jaune to believe that this was the headmaster they'd been waiting for. He wondered what kind of words of wisdom he'd pass on. If he was anything like Headmaster Oswald of Vacuo Preparatory School, then Jaune could expect the next few minutes to pass on while he spoke of things such as, 'chasing your dreams,' and, 'taking opportunities.' Jaune was always unsure whether or not he had respect for the older man or not. On one hand, Oswald had always been quite kind and supportive of Jaune. On the other hand, he was partially responsible for the disaster that occurred his last day of school. Not to mention, he was also partially responsible for Jaune's accursed title.

Jaune looked around the crowd of people surrounding him. He recognized Ruby standing next to a buxom blond girl, and to the left of them the girl in white that Jaune recognized as the heiress to the Schnee Dust Corporation. _What was her name again? White? Witch?_ He shook his head. It didn't really matter; he doubted he'd interact with her at all. Not because of his personality, but because he was going to purposely avoid her. _If I became friends with, or even forbid, dated her, that'd just be attention I_ _ **don't**_ _need._

His eyes continued to look around, finding themselves falling upon a head of bright red hair and- _HOLY BALLS! Is that Pyrrha Nikos?!_ Jaune knew of the beautiful Spartan girl. Not due to having watched her tournament fights, but because he not only enjoyed her sponsored cereal, (Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes! Part of a complete breakfast!) but because he had always kept her Ms. November bikini shoot photo in the back of his closet at his old dorm room. Sun had found out about it and hadn't stopped teasing Jaune about it for a week.

 _Of course, then team NDGO found out about it and burned it…_ He sighed and slumped forward.

Whether it was coincidence, fate, or simply years of training having told her she was being stared at, Jaune noticed Pyrrha's head turning around to gaze in his direction and he snapped his attention to the stage. Luckily for him, Ozpin cleared his throat and Pyrrha's attention immediately affixed itself to the front of the room.

"I'll keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge," Ozpin began. Jaune noticed that the old man seemed...off? Distracted, certainly, as though someone had told him some sort of shocking news. Jaune would have ignored this or written it off, had not the man's eyes suddenly fell upon his own, and he looked shocked for a brief moment before continuing. "Others among you are here to learn to survive. No matter your reason, all I see here is wasted potential."

 _Yeesh. He's starting to sound like Oswald already. 'Jaune, you're wasting your potential! With your skill, you could seduce every woman in Remnant!'_ He shook his head. _It's not like Ozpin's talking about you, after all._

"Yes," Ozpin continued, and Jaune noticed that his gaze hadn't moved from his position. " _Considerable_ wasted potential. Here at Beacon, you will learn that knowledge will only carry you so far, and that only surviving is no way to live. It is up to you to take the first step, and it is up to you to push yourself to new limits never before thought of..." Ozpin concluded.

 _Shit. He knows._

Ozpin walked off stage, and a blond woman stepped up, riding crop in one hand. Glynda Goodwitch. Jaune only knew her name because she had encountered he and Ruby while they were wandering aimlessly around, not knowing where to go to actually get to the opening speech. She'd terrified him then, and she terrified him now. Then Ruby left him all alone and in Glynda's _care_ which luckily didn't involve getting hit with the riding crop. She practically frog marched him to the auditorium however, much to his chagrin. "Everyone, listen up. Your first night will be spent in the Great Hall. If you do not know where the Great Hall is, ask one of the Professors or myself, and we will be willing to show you. Initiation begins tomorrow, so I highly suggest that you get an early rest tonight. Dismissed."

 _Man, and I thought Ozpin's speech was short. She just told us to go to bed early!_

Jaune watched as everyone began to filter out of the room and sighed, hoisting his travel bag over his shoulder. They had some time before evening still, so he'd take the opportunity to explore the school where he'd be spending his next four years…

 **[Beacon Academy – Emerald Tower – Top Floor]**

"...thank you, Ms. Goodwitch. That will be all." Ozpin sipped on his coffee after afternoon sun cast an orange glow onto the polished marble surface of Ozpin's office and glinted off of the golden trim of his desk, casting a myriad of colors onto the ceiling of the top floor of the Emerald Tower.

Glynda Goodwitch nodded. "Yes sir. By the way, I've finished the paperwork for the school's budget this year. We've increased the Dust limit by 25% from the previous year."She adjusted her glasses further up her nose with one hand, her other hand holding onto her deluxe sized Scroll with the aforementioned budget information displayed.

Ozpin nodded. "Excellent; and our ammunition stores?"

"Increased by 15%."

"I see..." Ozpin trailed off, sipping his coffee as he stared out the window of the Emerald Tower onto the rest of Beacon proper, humming to himself tunelessly.

Glynda was silent for a few moments before sighing and hanging her head. "No, the coffee budget was _not_ increased." Ozpin didn't respond. Instead, he slowly turned around and removed his glasses, his eyes watery and lip quivering. Glynda rolled her eyes. "Sir, the coffee budget already takes up more than 40% of our total budget. To include anything more would be madness."

A deep sigh. "You can't really blame me for trying, can you Glynda?"

The blond Headmistress narrowed her gaze. "Yes. Yes I can. Please desist these repeated attempts. They've never worked before, and they won't work in the future."

The Headmaster shook his head and replaced his glasses with the air of disdain, as though poo-pooing his assistant's opinion. "Glynda, Glynda, you don't see _me_ refusing a budget increase for your tea..."

Glynda raised a single, unamused eyebrow. "I pay for my own tea out of pocket."

"Exactly." Ozpin murmured sagely.

"That..." Glynda groaned. "Never mind." A noise caught her attention and she looked over her shoulder to see the elevator door open up, revealing two figures who stepped into the sunlight streaming into the office. One was a large man with a magnificent mustache, neatly combed, and a fancy burgundy suit. The other was a thin, wiry man with extremely messy green hair and thick, coke bottle glasses. "Peter? Bartholomew? What are you two doing here?"

Peter Port, Beacon Professor of Grimm Studies, gave a booming, belly laugh. "Ah, Glynda, we're here for the meeting!"

Glynda turned back to Ozpin. "We're having a meeting? Did you schedule _another_ staff meeting without me _again_?"

The white haired man turned slowly around, his expression oddly serious. "Actually, Ms. Goodwitch, this is a meeting between just the three of us."

"Sir?" Glynda adopted a concerned glance. "If this is about Autumn, then I've been in the loop longer than they have."

"I'm afraid this is a far different matter, Glynda," _Doctor_ Bartholomew Oobleck, Beacon's History Professor, interjected. "A matter of urgency between the four Kingdom's Academies."

"Then this seems like it would be something that I would be very much invested in being involved in!" Glynda snapped, glancing between the three of them.

Peter nodded. "I agree, Glynda. Bart, Ozpin, shouldn't we involve her?"

Ozpin stroked his chin. "We _are_ talking about the alternate interpretation of the late Isaac Arc..."

The Headmistress opened her mouth, but then froze, her expression twisting in confusion, then slowly evolving into understanding, before finally settling upon exasperation. "You...you cannot be serious. This isn't urgent news, it's silly mythology."

"Oh? Oswald says he has video and photographic proof of a new Hare-" Ozpin began smugly, but Glynda cut him off, glaring at him.

" _Isaac Arc_ was a hero, and a man of virtue, not some...faux Casanova of legend!" Glynda huffed and began to storm out of the office towards the elevator, frowning. Her heels clicked loudly on the flooring with every step, her path taking her all the way up to the elevator doors. She stopped and turned on her heel, still leveling a stern glare at the three men currently standing around Ozpin's desk.

"When you're ready to act like men, and _not_ like boys, then I'll be down in the Teacher's lounge. Good day!" Glynda walked back into the elevator, hitting the button for the ground floor and the doors closed slowly upon her frowning and displeased expression.

After a few more moments of silence, it was Oobleck who spoke up once more. "See, Port, that's why I believed we _shouldn't_ have included her in this discussion. It's obvious she doesn't believe the 'Harem King' theory of Isaac Arc."

"Regardless of what Ms. Goodwitch believes," Ozpin began taking another sip of his coffee, " _I_ believe we have a meeting to attend to. Gentlemen, if you'd take your seats?" The Headmaster waved his hand and the floor opened up on either side of his desk, chairs raising up from the floor. Port and Oobleck both sat down wordlessly, reclining in the chairs. Ozpin sat down as well and waved his hand again, the windows dimming, removing a majority of the light from the room. Simultaneously, a holographic copy of Ozpin's half-circle desk phased into existence, forming a full circle in the center of the office.

More holograms began to phase into existence, sitting around the table; a scruffy looking man with black hair, a five o' clock shadow and swigging from a flask was the first to show up. After that a tall, somber looking man with a small metal strip above one eye and very well combed and groomed black hair appeared, followed by an older man with an eye-patch, a burgundy vest, khaki slacks and a can. Lastly, a strange conical green shape with a floating orb above it phased into existence, a place marker for what would normally be a person.

"Qrow. James. Ozwald," Ozpin began. "I'm glad you gentlemen could join us. We are gathered here today for one reason."

"I do hope it's a good one, Ozpin." James Ironwood, General of the Atlas Army and Headmaster of Signal Academy, spoke.

"Normally I'd hate to agree with James," Qrow, Master Huntsman and Grimm Reaper, replied frowning, "but in this circumstance, I really have to. I was busy gathering information on the Queen, and had to leave in order to join this meeting in time."

"I assure you," began Oswald Gilt, Headmaster of Vacuo Preparatory School, "that this meeting was called for a _very_ good reason. I have already discussed this with Ozpin, and I believe we have found our secret weapon versus the Queen."

"Oh? What weapon could be so important?" James queried, taking a sip from a mug he had nearby.

Oswald drummed his fingers on the holographic table, his other hand holding onto the top of his cane. "None other than the return of the fabled 'Harem King.'" Oswald murmured solemnly, peering out from over the top of his reading glasses

Ozpin nodded. "Isaac Arc...the Harem King. The Man Of A Thousand Semblances. The Savior of Remnant…"

James eyes widened and his mug dropped, Port gave a deep 'harumph', Oobleck leaned in eagerly and Qrow gave a sharp laugh. "Please, Harem King? Seriously? Just because some lucky guy has two or three girlfriends doesn't mean he's a 'Harem King.' He's a player. Isaac Arc was the one and only Harem King." The grizzled Hunter shook his head and took another swig of his flask.

Oswald gave a very thin lipped smile. "Oh? Why don't you go ahead and watch this little video from a week ago and tell me what you think about this so called, 'player.'" The older Headmaster raised his cane and tapped it twice on what would have been his own floor. A holographic window appeared in the center of the table and a clip began to play on it. At first, it appeared to be a hallway with a young blond man proceeding to run down it as fast as he could from... _something_. Whatever it was, it was far enough behind him that he wasn't in any immediate danger.

"Did you grab the wrong video, you Alzheimer riddled idiot?" Qrow laughed, earning a very sharp glare from Oswald.

"Just keep watching, you dirty, scruffy drunkard." Oswald snapped back. The remaining men remained silent as they continued to watch the screen. There was a low rumbling sound and vague feminine screams and then _something_ came into view. Hundreds of bodies packed side by side in the hall, every single one a female of a various body type, appearance, age, ect. Schoolgirls as far as the eye could see rushed forward in a frenzy; some were screaming, some were in tears, other still were busy trying to remove articles of clothing.

 _"Jaune! We love you!"_

 _"Please come back, I need you!"_

 _"I'll kill you if you leave me!"_

 _"You can do anything you want to me!"_

Qrow's flask now fell to the ground in a clatter, his eyes wide as saucers and jaw hanging open. James looked no better, with his own normally unflappable gaze twisted into a look of utter shock. Ozpin's lips turned up slightly as his two fellow Beacon staff members shook their head in their own mute shock. Finally, Oswald had leaned back, folding his arms with a smug smirk. "Now do you believe me?"

"This...you...this has to be a joke!" Qrow shouted, eyes wide. "Rewind the tape, I want to see the kid again!"

Oswald waved his hand and the clip reversed until it got to the young man, panic written all over his figure, running down the hall. Oswald snapped his fingers and the clip stopped, the young man's expression and facial features clear for the surrounding men to see. "His name...is Jaune Arc."

"Wait, as in-" Qrow started, jumping out of his seat and pointing at Jaune's frozen, terror filled face.

"As in the great-grandson of Isaac Arc." Oswald concluded.

Qrow silently fell back into his seat, hand on his head. "...This...can't be..."

"The Harem King..." murmured James, staring up at the screen with a calculating look.

"However, there is a problem." Oswald murmured. "Despite his... _overwhelming_ popularity, Mr. Arc has never taken advantage of his position. We cannot confirm whether or not he has the same powers of the Harem King until he get into at least a single relationship..."

Qrow spat out his alcohol, eyes widening further. "He was surrounded by all that poontang and he didn't take _any_ of it?! Look, Oswald, if he's into guys, he _can't_ be the Harem King." The Hunter took another swig of his flask to replace the alcohol he'd wasted previously before adding, "Not that there's anything wrong with that."

"I originally thought that," Oswald explained, stroking his chin, "However, reports came back to me that Mr. Arc had a Ms. November bikini photo posted on the back of his closet for a few months before team NDGO heard about it and burned it. Mr. Arc was quite distressed upon losing it. No, I believe Mr. Arc has the issue of being of strong moral fiber."

"'Strong moral fiber?'" Qrow queried, "I think we can see about nominating him as a damn Saint! Anyone of us would have been drowning in tits if we were in his position!"

"Hence, why I had Mr. Arc join Beacon Academy. We all know Ozpin selects some of the most attractive and buxom women in all of Remnant for his school." Oswald shot Ozpin a grin, who gave back a mysterious small smile.

James muttered something darkly under his breath, crossing his arms and affixing Ozpin with a half glare, half pout. "Took all the good ones..."

Ozpin hit a button on his desk, and two pictures popped up, one of Ruby Rose, the other of a young woman with raven black hair, beautiful golden eyes and a black bow. "Indeed. We've also been moving into the moe and cat-girl options as well."

"H-hey! You leave Ruby out of this!" Qrow snapped, standing up again and pointing at Ozpin. "That is _not_ cool!"

"Qrow, please, relax. I promise you, nothing will happen to Ruby until she is of age, this I'll make sure of." Ozpin tried to calm the Hunter down, his hand gently making soothing motions.

Another voice spoke up, the strange shape glowing faintly as the speaker stated, "I think we're all forgetting the most important question: What exactly is this...'Harem King' going to do to the Queen? Seduce her?"

Port gave a booming, deep laugh. "Perhaps! Perhaps he shall defeat her in combat, with the power of a young man in his youth and prime! Regardless, the ancient texts state that the Harem King has power to rival even the Four Maidens of myth!"

Ozpin, Qrow and James all fixed each other with small, knowing smiles. Ozpin was the first to speak up again. "What matter is that we find out for certain whether or not Mr. Arc is truly the Harem King of myth, or simply Remnant's most skilled seducer. Starting tonight, we shall take steps to assure that he remains in contact with as many female forms as possible to determine this."

"Fine, but leave Ruby out of it!" Qrow snapped.

"Very well, very well. There are plenty of other girls to choose from here at Beacon. You did say he had an interest in Ms. Pyrrha Nikos, Oswald?"

"Indeed." Oswald nodded sagely.

"Very well. We'll get started on introducing them immediately." Ozpin nodded. "Gentlemen? Until we meet again. I'll keep you all informed to his growth." Qrow, James and Oswald all stood and gave varying salutes, before their figures blinked out of existence one by one, followed by the table, leaving the room in darkness.

Silence.

"Ozpin?"

More silence.

"Yes, Port?"

"Can we turn on the lights already?"

* * *

 _ **Author's Note: Here's the next chapter! Not a lot of Jaune, but I wanted to establish one of the many antagonists that Jaune will face in his Beacon career among them being his own teachers! If you're wondering what all the talk of "Harem King" and "The Man With A Thousand Semblances" is all about, then keep reading! Everything will explained in time! Stay tuned for the next episode, where we will introduce the rest of team RWBY, and Ms. November herself, Pyrrha Nikos! More women, more choices and more disaster!**_

 _ **If Jaune were real, he'd hate me by now.**_

 _ **Signing off for now, LaughingLefou!**_

 _ **And as always, remember to leave a review!**_


	3. Nothing To Do With The Actual Chapter

_I do not own RWBY_

* * *

 **Unwinnable**

 **Chapter 2: These Chapter Titles Will Have Nothing To Do With The Actual Chapter.**

 **[Beacon Academy – Grand Hall]**

* * *

"...I'm just saying, I don't think Dad would approve of all these boys..."

Ruby Rose frowned as she spoke. She'd already put on her pajamas, and she had been chatting with her buxom, blond, older sister, Yang Xiao Long.

"I know I certainly approve..." Yang grinned lasciviously, watching many of the shirtless, and quite fit men, walk past her hungry lavender gaze.

"Yaaaaang!" Ruby groaned in exasperation, "I'm gonna tell Dad that-"

" _There you are!_ " A sharp voice cried out, causing Ruby to jump in surprise and turn around, only to see a well dressed young woman with long white hair stomping up to her, her brows furrowed in anger. She was waving, in her hand, a brochure titled, ' _Dust and You: A Guide to Proper Dust Handling._ ' "Do you have any idea what you almost did earlier?! You could have caused a catastrophic series of events! Do you even know how to properly handle Dust?"

"Whoah, whoah, settle down there, Ice Queen," Yang stepped in, noticing her little sister's distress at getting yelled at. "I'm sure whatever happened between you two was an accident. Look we're all new here, so let's let bygones by bygones, and make friends here. I'm Yang, and this is my little sister, Ruby."

Ruby smiled sheepishly, waving. "H-hi! I hope we can be friends...after this?"

The white haired woman rolled her eyes, crossing her arms with a huff. "Oh, sure! We can go shopping and do our nails and talk about boys, like tall, blond and scraggly over there!" She thumbed sarcastically to one Jaune Arc, currently dressed in a plain white dress shirt and plaid, flannel pants. "And it's not 'Ice Queen,' It's Weiss Schnee!"

"Huh?" Jaune turned his head, his face twisting in confusion, then settling into irritation. They hadn't even talked yet, and she was already insulting him? That was a load of bull! He stepped forward, frowning deeply and opened his mouth to begin to talk-

...and the world suddenly screeched to a halt, the colors draining from the world once again. Ruby froze in mid smile, looking as though she were about to take Weiss' sarcastic tone seriously and the buxom blond sister looking quite irritated at the heiress' less than pleasant attitude toward her sister. The young blond man smacked his face with the palm of his hand and groaned. "Oh, you've _got_ to be kidding me! Really?! She's an option?! No! I don't want to date her! I don't care if she's an heiress, she's obviously a giant walking jerk!"

Unsurprisingly, his own Semblance ignored him, and a splash of blue appeared on the world as a holographic window opened up as per usual, with four options. Jaune slumped forward and whimpered. "Come on, you can't be serious!" His whining was met with silence and he gave a loud groan. If he was a more vindictive sort, (and if it would do him any good) he'd be tempted to smack the heiress upside the head while time was stopped. Instead, all he could do was trudge forward toward the window with the air of a man on death row. "You are the _worst_ Semblance ever."

 **A.) Confront Her**

 **B.) Flirt With Her**

 **C.) Insult Her Back**

 **D.) Put It In**

"What the hell is up with option D?!" Jaune shouted, face contorting in an odd combination of anger and confusion. "What is wrong with you! Or me! Or...whatever the hell this is?! _This_ is the manifestation of my soul?!" The Hunter-in-Training ground his teeth together, growling under his breath. "Alright, alright, calm down. At least such a terrible option lowers my choices automatically to three..."

Jaune took a deep breath. "Alright..." he murmured to himself, "Let's go over our choices...Hm. I don't want option B; She strikes me as the tsundere type, and I _hate_ those. Option A or C." Jaume drummed his fingers on his leg with one hand, and stroked his chin in the other. "Option C might not be a good idea if we end up partnered together...Dust, I hope not..."

He reached a hand out and pressed option A, his finger feeling resistance and a smooth texture, as if the window of light was a solid object. As if someone pressed the play button on the remote of the universe, everything started up again, colors coming back into being and Jaune felt his body being moved without his input or will, his mouth moving. "Excuse me?" Jaune felt himself speak, tapping Weiss on the shoulder.

The heiress whirled around on her heel, putting her arms akimbo. "What?" She snapped.

"Don't you think that it's a little rude, not to mention immature, to insult someone you haven't even talked to, much less met?" Jaune's semblance answered for him in a calm tone of voice. _Wait, what?! I was hoping to be a little more forceful than that! Damn it, maybe I should have insulted her!_

Weiss recoiled backward, her eyes widening and her expression looking as though Jaune had pulled out a trout and slapped her across the face. For a brief few moments, Jaune swore she was going to start yelling at him, but found himself surprised when instead, the young woman's cheeks grew pink, and she hung her head. "Y-you...you're...right..." her voice was strained, as though the simple act of apologizing was something she wasn't used to, or disliked immensely. "Please f-forgive my rudeness." She gave a very stiff curtsey, looking at once both upset and embarrassed.

Jaune shook his head. "All is forgiven. Just...do try to be a little kinder in the future? Oh, and, please, show Ms. Rose some mercy. I'm sure she was just distracted by being in such a...ostentatious location and wasn't aware of where she was going. I'm sure she by no means meant to cause such trouble for you. Such an act of forgiveness couldn't be too much for someone with your noble upbringing, would it?" Jaune felt his Semblance _finally_ release him to his own willpower and he rubbed his jaw, a small frown across his face. _God, that feels so weird! I hate it when it that happens! And 'ostentatious?' What the hell does that even mean? I never talk that fancy!_

Weiss' froze for a few moments before a smile graced her features. It was small, and almost hesitant, but it was there. "You're absolutely right, and I sincerely apologize for my earlier behavior. I suppose the saying is indeed true, 'don't judge a book by it's cover.'"

 **[Weiss' interest has slightly increased!]**

Jaune blinked at the holographic image window for a moment before it vanished before his eyes mere moments later. _That went...a lot better than expected._ "Uh, sure. Yeah, n-not a problem."

Weiss gave yet another curtsy. "I shall retire for the evening. It was a pleasure meeting you..." She trailed off, raising a single eyebrow questioningly.

"Jaune. Jaune Arc." Jaune murmured.

The heiress' other eyebrow rose to meet the first one for a brief moment, a look of shock written across her features. It was quickly replaced with yet another smile that Jaune could easily see her practicing in front of a mirror for talk shows and interviews. "Ah, an Arc. That would explain your forgiving nature. Until we meet again, Mr. Arc."

 **[Weiss' interest has slightly increased!]**

 _Hm. Interesting. Incrimental increases. Unlike Ruby, she didn't immediately think of me as a friend...not that I'm really put out about that._ Jaune watched the Schnee girl walk away, evidently having forgotten all about her issue with Ruby. Either that, or she no longer cared. _I think I should probably turn in for the night myself._ Before he could walk away to find a nice, secluded spot to sleep in, he felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder. "Hey there," a voice murmured.

Jaune looked over his shoulder to see a pair of lavender eyes crinkled up with a smile. "Thanks for sticking up for my little sister back there."

"Little sister?" Jaune queried, turning around.

"Hello!" Ruby jumped into his field of view, and Jaune stumbled back. "Whoah! Oh, hey Rubes. What's up?"

` "Hey, this is my big sister, Yang! Yang, this is the guy I was telling you about earlier who helped me up." Ruby cheerfully explained to her sister, who flashed Jaune another brilliant smile.

"Oh? So you've helped her out twice now. Glad to see she's got someone looking out for her already." Yang held out a hand. "It's nice to meet you, Vomit Boy."

"H-hey!" Jaune started, but stopped suddenly with a sigh. _To be fair, I did kind of accidentally throw up a little on her back at the plane, didn't I?_ With a nonchalant shrug, Jaune stepped forward to shake the hand of the young woman, flashing a sheepish smile of his own, when the world abruptly shifted into monochrome. " _Are you kidding me?!_ " Jaune shouted, balling his hands into fists. "I _just_ met her! Are you going to do this with every single person I meet?!"

As usual, his Semblance ignored him. He knew it was just the manifestation of his soul, but it was irritating how it seemed to have a mind of its own sometimes. With a sigh, Jaune stepped forward to see a bright blue, translucent window appear before his very eyes, with the usual four options.

 **A.) "Hey, don't mention it. Ruby's such a sweet girl; I couldn't just leave her there."**

 **B.) "You two are sisters? I can see the resemblance. You're both incredibly attractive."**

 **C.) "Do I get to grope you as a reward?"**

 **D.) "Whatever. I'm already regretting having helped her."**

Once again, Jaune couldn't help but groan. "Mental note to self. Never _ever_ choose option D. Option C never looks too good either...is it just me, or are you trying to limit my choices? I don't _want_ a harem! How hard is that to get across!?" Jaune continued to rant at the holographic window. "At least the first two aren't too terribly bad. Again, I don't want to come across as flirty, so I guess that just leaves me with option A..."

His hand reached forward and he selected the choice, pressing the option. The world shifted back into its normal colors, and everything began to move again. Jaune felt his body becoming controlled once more, his muscles and mouth moving against his will. "Hey, don't mention it. Ruby's such a sweet girl; I couldn't just leave her there."

Ruby's face went as red as her usual combat attire, and Yang couldn't help but laugh, taking Jaune's hand in a firm, but not quite painful grasp. "Isn't she though?" Her gaze suddenly became serious and she leaned in, frowning darkly, murmuring under her breath. "Hope you aren't getting any ideas..."

Jaune would have blanched, gone pale and began stammering a denial, but his body, still in thrall to his own Semblance, calmly answered back, "Of course not. I said she's a sweet girl, but if I'm being brutally honest here, you're more my type." _AAAH! NO! STOP FLIRTING!_ To make matters worse, Jaune could feel himself winking.

Yang actually laughed, falling back into her previous, merry nature. "Well, aren't you charming?"

Ruby pouted and stomped her foot. "Yaaaaang!"

Yang smiled and ruffled her sister's hair. "Oh, we're just playing around, right Jaune?" Yang shot him a knowing look.

"Right. Couldn't help myself. Not trying to ignore you by any means, Rubes." Jaune's hand reached out and gently ruffled her hair as well, earning another blush and a smaller pout from his new schoolmate.

"Stop treating me like a little kid!" Ruby muttered, her cheeks still burning red. "I'm grown up too."

"Sorry, sorry!" Jaune replied, feeling his Semblance finally letting him loose once more. _This is seriously getting old...I bet no one else feels so...strange, when they use their Semblance! Then again, I don't think too many Semblances out there use their users instead..._

"You know," Yang began, putting one hand to her hip, "You're not half bad. Who knows? You might be my type as well." Yang winked at him, a teasing smile playing around her lips.

Jaune just rolled his eyes, unable to keep himself from smiling back. "Alright, alright, enough with that. I think we've embarrassed Ruby enough."

 **[Yang's interest has increased!]**

 **[You are now friends with Yang Xiao Long!]**

Jaune raised a single eyebrow at the new windows and gave a small smile. That wasn't half bad! One day already, and he already made two friends! All he had to do was make sure not to accidentally get them more interested, and he'd be solid!

"See, Ruby? You were here only one day and you already made a friend. You've got nothing to worry about!" Jaune heard Yang speak to Ruby, who nodded and pumped her fist.

"And I plan to make a lot more!" Ruby looked around the room, until her eyes at last spotted a raven haired young woman sitting against a nearby wall, reading a book with rapt attention. She was clothed in a black bow atop her head, and a strange dress that had her smooth, alabaster legs on full display. Jaune, having followed Ruby's gaze curiously, found himself having to look away lest he develop a full on blush and give away where exactly he'd been looking. His eyes were brought back however, when he heard Ruby's peppy voice answer with, "Hi there!"

The young woman looked up, and nodded, before going back to her book. Jaune inwardly winced. That wasn't exactly a warm welcome. However, Ruby seemed bound and determined to make a new friend, and she leaned forward. "What'cha reading?"

"A book," was the woman's dry reply, her golden gaze looking up at Ruby just long enough, before dipping back down to her reading material.

Ruby frowned. She was getting nowhere! She glanced over to Jaune, who in turn gave her a sheepish grin, as though to say, ' _Eh, what can you do?_ ' Ruby's expression hardened and she turned back to the book lover. "What's it about?"

The young woman looked back up, blinked and gave a small smile. "It's about a man with who souls, and the struggle between them."

"Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?" Ruby, Yang and the young woman all turned to Jaune, who immediately adopted a sheepishly embarrassed grin, scratching the back of his neck. "S-sorry. I used to read a lot of the classics when I was younger. Not a whole lot to do out in the middle of nowhere."

"Um...yes, actually." The black haired woman replied, after a few moments of silence. "It's nice to meet someone else who's well read."

 **[Blake's interest has slightly increased!]**

 _Huh. Blake is her name, huh? Wait a minute! Her interest increased without a prompt?!_ Jaune had to fight the urge to face palm. _I'd forgotten that could happen..._ "I-I'm not _that_ well read..." he murmured, looking off to the side.

"Enough to know the classics." The woman named Blake responded with a demure smile.

"Hey, look who's a Mr. Smartypants," Yang teased, bumping Jaune's ribs with her elbow. Her light-hearted ribbing was powerful enough to knock him to the side with a hissing intake of breath.

"N-not really..." Jaune murmured nervously. Eager to get the attention off of him, he stepped closer to the reading woman and extended a hand. "A-anyway, it's nice to meet you. I'm Jaune, and this is Ruby."

Ruby smiled brightly and waved. "Hi!"

"Hm." Blake ignored Jaune's outstretched hand, but smiled nonetheless. "My name is Blake. Blake Belladonna."

Jaune wanted to speak, but once again, time froze. His expression went deadpan. "Three times in one night? Really? You're going into overtime today, aren't you? Okay, fine, you know what? So far, none of the choices I've made have been hurting me, and a new friend couldn't hurt. So go ahead. Bring it on. Let's do this!" Jaune stepped forward with purpose, even as the familiar blue glow of the holographic window contrasted against the monochrome of the world around him.

 **A.) "So, do those legs go** _ **all**_ **the way up?"**

 **B.) "Why don't you and I hit up a bookstore after Initiation?"**

 **C.) "It was a pleasure to meet you. We'll leave you alone so you can finish reading."**

 **D.) [Locked] "Hey, Beacon is a multi-cultural school; there's no reason to hide behind that bow."**

Jaune opened his mouth, then closed it. Then opened it again, then closed it again, before finally settling on staring at the window with the same expression he'd have if he'd been slapped in the face with a trout. "Locked? The hell?" He reached forward, curiously, and pushed it, waiting for the world to go back to normal...

...and nothing occurred.

"...I don't know what I expected." The blond Hunter-in-Training mused, scratching at his chin. "Well, that's new. Never had a locked option before..." He shook his head. "I'll worry about it later. I could sit here for years and probably never figure it out. If only this stupid Semblance actually came with a user manual-" No sooner had the words left his lips than a green translucent window opened up with the words, ' _User Manual_ **'** at the top. Jaune stared at it for a while, unmoving and not speaking, simply gazing at the window with the most deadpan expression he could muster.

"..."

If anyone could have been taken into Jaune's Sembalnce's world, they would have been surely deafened by Jaune's scream of fury. "SON OF A BITCH! I had a user manual this entire time and I _just now find out about it?!_ " Jaune groaned and slumped to his knees. "This would have been helpful a **long** time ago!" Giving it only the slightest of thoughts, Jaune hit one of the buttons in front of him and when the world went back to normal, Jaune found himself on his feet once more.

"It was a pleasure to meet you," Jaune's voice began, "We'll leave you alone so you can finish your reading. Come on, Ruby, we should probably get to sleep. Initiation is tomorrow."

Blake's eyes widened slightly before her smile grew wider. "Thanks. I probably won't be up too much later myself. It's been...enjoyable."

 **[Blake's interest has slightly increased!]**

Jaune turned away, and as he did so, Blake leaned over and blew out the candle that one of the few sources of illumination remaining in the great hall, the rest having been snuffed out when other more productive students had gone to bed. In doing so, Jaune was reminded quite suddenly that his night vision sucked, and he suddenly found himself tripping and falling to the ground with a thud.

"Hey! Quiet down over there! We're trying to sleep!"

"...sorry..." Jaune groaned.

* * *

 **[Beacon Academy – Hallway]**

* * *

"Peter?"

A grunting noise, not unlike that of a Boarbatusk straining against a Hunter, issued forth from beneath the massive, glorious mustache of one Peter Port.

"What...exactly are we doing?" Professor-, er, _Doctor_ Bartholomew Oobleck grunted out, his thin frame struggling to keep his end of the heavy rocket locker above the ground, channeling his Aura through his body to keep himself from collapsing under the weight of the engine, fuel tank and extremely thick metal, armored shell that made up the storage container.

"Well," Port began, wriggling his mustache, "We're moving Mr. Arc's locker down further near Ms. Nikos' locker. Then, tomorrow morning, or perhaps past that, should they miss each other, they'll run into each other more often, and thus, we can see Mr. Arc's potential in action! We are acting Cupids, helping love to blossom between two young Hunters!"

Oobleck nodded, sweat dripping down his brow. This was ridiculous. He was a capable hunter, able to destroy Grimm twice his size, and a single rocket locker was causing him so much difficulty! "A thought comes to mind, Peter."

Another grunt.

"If Glynda happens upon us, we are going to end up in some serious trouble, you know that, right?"

Peter gave a small chuckle, which still seemed almost deafening in the empty, night time corridors of Beacon's halls. "Not to worry, old friend! Glynda will be fast asleep at this point, and I 'volunteered' us as watch duty for the Great Hall!"

"Ah." Oobleck fell silent for a brief moment, his face adopting a thoughtful expression. He then stopped, eyes widening behind his thick glasses. "Port?"

"Yes, Bart?"

"If we're here moving the locker, then...who is currently watching the Hall?"

"..." Peter's eyes widened like saucers, his hands going slack.

 _THUD_

" **YEEAAAAAOOOOUUUCCCCCHHHH!** "

"Bart, keep it down! You'll wake Glynda!"

* * *

 **[Beacon Academy – Morning]**

* * *

Jaune awoke the sound of commotion. Groaning and rubbing sleep out of his eyes, the blond Hunter-in-Training sat up and looked around. People were already packing up their sleeping gear, getting changed into their clothes for the day, and even doing some maintenance on their weapons in preparation for Initiation. In one corner of the room, Jaune could see a very sleepy looking young man in a green outfit tying up his bag, an orange haired woman bouncing all around him like her mother was a spring and her father was a dynamo. _Poor guy..._

He chuckled to himself and yawned, stretching out. It was time to pack up himself, and prepare for the first test that Beacon would throw at him. "Sun...Neptune..." Jaune whispered, looking down and clenching his hand into a fist. "I'll keep going. No matter what they throw at me, I'm going to become a hunter in memory of you guys! Your brother won't fail now!" Jaune leaped to his feet, blue eyes burning fiercely with determination.

 **[Yang's interest has increased slightly!]**

"Wait, what?" Jaune murmured, looking down at the new holographic window that appeared before his vision.

A low wolf-whistle caught his attention. "Nice boxers there, Vomit Boy!" Yang's voice called out from behind him.

Jaune blinked and slowly looked down, only to notice that his flannel pants were gone, with only a pair of boxers with hearts on them covering him. He gave a short scream of panic and quickly ducked down into his sleeping bag, fishing around for his pants. He'd forgotten that in the middle of the night he'd removed them, with the Great Hall being too hot and all. As he desperately tried to change into his denim jeans inside of his sleeping bag, he heard footsteps coming up behind him, and found himself staring up at Yang's grinning face. "You may mock my boxers," Jaune began, frowning, "but they are comfortable and breezy, and that's all that matters."

Yang laughed again. "Yeah, yeah, I got it, Vomit Boy." She lowered a hand and Jaune reached up to grab it, letting her help him to his feet. "So, nervous?"

Jaune gave a small chuckle, bending down to grab his black hoodie. "Does it show?"

"Well, you _were_ doing the whole fist pumping thing like you were trying to get yourself hyped for the Initiation." Yang stretched, and Jaune had to fight to avoid staring at her prodigious...assets.

"A little?" Jaune shuffled into his hoodie. "I was just thinking about my old friends from Vacuo. I'm not just doing this for myself...but for them, as well."

Yang slowly turned back to Jaune, her expression turning sorrowful. "Wait, you mean…?"

Jaune turned his head down. "Y-yeah...they...sacrificed themselves for me..." He felt a hand rest on his shoulder, and looked up to see Yang giving him a soft smile.

"Hey, don't look so down. You'll make them proud. Just have a little faith in yourself." Yang softly responded. Then, before Jaune could respond, she reared her hand back and punched him in the shoulder, smiling from ear to ear. "'sides, I'm sure they wouldn't want to see you looking so down!"

"You're right." Jaune's eyes flashed once more with determination, one hand rubbing his now certainly bruised shoulder. "Now just to hope I find a decent partner."

Yang grinned. "Who knows? Maybe us blonds will end up sticking together?"

"Would that be called a 'blond'erhood?" Jaune joked lamely, grinning. When Yang didn't respond, Jaune frowned. "Y-you know...like a brotherhood...only blond..." his voice trailed off, scratching the back of his neck and grimacing. _Well, that was stup-_

 **[Yang's interest has increased!]**

 _Wait, why?!_

"Blonder-hood?! _Ha!_ " Yang laughed, smacking Jaune hard enough on the back to almost knock him over. "That was pretty good!" She laughed more, wiping a tear from her eye, walking away as Jaune picked himself back up, groaning. He picked up his travel bag, hoisting it onto his shoulder, listening to Yang as she continued to walk out of the room, still chuckling to herself, muttering, " _Blonder_ -hood! That was great…."

 _Huh. Didn't think it was_ _ **that**_ _great…_ Jaune stuck his hands into his front pocket, and froze. There was a piece of paper in his pocket, neatly folded. He pulled it out, and upon it were the words, ' _Locker 636._ ' Jaune blinked. That was odd, last he checked, the number of his locker was much lower. With a shrug, Jaune made his way past the crowd of people and out the door, stopping only when he heard a voice filled with far too much enthusiasm for the early morning.

"Renny! We should have a secret signal to make sure we're partners! I know, a sloth call!"

"Nora, I don't think that sloths make a sound."

"That's what makes it so secret!"

Jaune grimaced, shook his head and walked out the door. _Woe be to any man stuck with that living lightning bolt...there's not enough caffeine in the world to put up with her on a regular basis…_

 **[Beacon Academy – Hallway]**

 _636...636...Damn it, it should have been here by this point! How many damn lockers are there in this school!? How_ _ **big**_ _is this school?!_

"Oof!" Jaune, his face buried deep in the small piece of folded paper, didn't notice that his path had taken him directly into someone else. He stumbled back, to the angry and shrill shout of, "Watch where you're going you dolt!"

"S-sorry, sorry!" Jaune shouted, waving his hands in front of him, eyes widening. He stopped when he noticed the identity of the woman he'd collided with. White hair, icy eyes, white dress and a rapier at her hip. _Shit, I ran into Weiss! Crap, how did I act yesterday? Act fancy!_ "M-my apologies, Ms. Schnee. I had been distracted in trying to find my locker and hadn't been aware of my...area around me. Please, f-forgive my….er...rudeness...and stuff." _Smooth move, Ex-lax._

 **[Weiss' interest has increased slightly!]**

Weiss blinked and nodded, curtsying back. "Oh, it's just you, Mr. Arc. Quite alright, just please be more careful in the future."

"Oh, you two are already acquainted?" A soft voice inquired.

Jaune looked up to respond to the negative...and froze. _Oh fuck! Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck oh fuck ohfuckohfuckohfuckohfuck! It's Pyrrha Nikos!_ She was every bit as beautiful to him in real life as she'd been on the front of Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes, or her Ms. November bikini shoot. She was smiling softly at him, lips softly upturned, bright red hair swaying behind her and emerald eyes staring into his own unashamedly. _Shit! What do I say? How do I act?! Oh crap!_

"Ah, yes, I shouldn't have to introduce you, Mr. Arc." Weiss replied, stepping between them. "If you'll forgive me, I was in the middle of conversing with Pyrrha here."

Jaune nodded slowly, trying desperately to keep his face impassive, even as his mind was going a mile a minute. _Should I introduce myself? No, she'll probably think I'm just some crazy fan. Maybe I should play it cool? Should I just say hello?! Dust, what do I do?!_

"E-excuse me?" Pyrrha interjected, interrupting his train of thought as she leaned to the side to glimpse him behind Weiss. "Are you alright?"

The young blond's face was slightly, but still noticeably, twisting and contorting in his confusion and panic. He looked up into Pyrrha's eyes and-

 **A.) "Sorry, just wondering if it hurt when you fell from heaven."**

 **B.) "Why do you care? Mind your own business!"**

 **C.) "Oh, it's nothing, just confused by the locker placement. You are?"**

 **D.) Put It In HARD.**

"...No." Jaune looked down at the holographic window that appeared, then back up at Pyrrha's frozen, concerned glance, then back down again to the choices. "Are you _kidding me_?! These all suck! All of them! A is just a cheesy pick up line, and if _I_ think it's cheesy, it's _got_ to be bad! B is just rude as hell, C is alright, if it wasn't for the fact that it makes me think that I don't know who she is, and I...I'm not even going to even consider of thinking about option D." He groaned and slumped to his knees, whimpering. "Why? This is my one chance to talk to Pyrrha Nikos, one of the most badass, attractive Huntresses on Remnant, and you screw me over like this? How the hell can you help me get all of team NDGO to consider passing me around their dorm, and yet I can't get one decent damn option for Pyrrha!" Jaune looked up at the options floating before him, and whimpered again. "It's not fair..." He slowly reached his hand out, and tentatively pressed on option C.

Time went back to normal and he was once again back on his feet. "Oh, it's nothing," his mouth parroted the option he chose, "I was just confused by the locker placement. You are?"

Pyrrha's eyes widened slightly and she started to speak, when Weiss stepped in between them once more, her gaze narrow and sharp. "Wait, you can't mean to tell me you _don't_ know about Pyrrha Nikos? She's one of the top graduating students from Sanctum?"

Jaune blinked and shook his head slowly. Internally, Jaune was screaming. _No! I do know about her! I do! Damn it!_ "S-sorry, should I?"

Weiss' face turned incredulous. "She was the four time champion of the Mistral Tournament!"

Once again, Jaune shook his head slowly. "I didn't watch too much television back in Vacuo; I'd been too busy studying for tests or practicing in combat."

 **[Weiss' interest has slightly increased!]**

"Well..." Weiss trailed off, her cheeks going slightly pink. "I can't fault your work ethic..." She shook her head and looked back at him. "S-she was on the cover of Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes!"

"That was you?!" Jaune's body involuntarily shouted, even as he internally tried to face palm. _That's what you're recognizing her for! You're ruining everything!_

Weiss sighed and slumped. "I...I've got no words." The heiress shook her head and turned back to Pyrrha. "Let...let's just go..." She slowly trudged away, eyes wide and mouth murmuring something about, " _he recognizes her from the cereal of all things.._ "

Pyrrha turned to Weiss, then back to Jaune and gave him a small smile. "I-I hope to talk to you again soon. Your name is…?"

"Jaune Arc. Short, sweet and rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it." He winked and performed finger guns.

 _NOOOO! That's it! I'm ruined! Pyrrha is going to hate me now! She'll think I'm lame! An idiot! A joke! Whyyyy?!_

Pyrrha gave a short giggle. "Well, it was nice meeting you, Jaune. I-"

"Pyrrha, come on!" Weiss shouted from further down the hallway, arms akimbo.

"S-sorry. I...I got to go." Pyrrha turned away from Jaune and walked down the hall, leaving Jaune behind, finally able to control his limbs.

"Great..." Jaune murmured, slumping against a nearby locker, resting his head against his arm. "My first impression, ruined..."

 **[Pyrrha's interest has sharply increased!]**

 **[You are now friend with Pyrrha Nikos!]**

 **[Pyrrha Nikos now has a slight crush on you!]**

Jaune's gaze snapped up, and caught Pyrrha's emerald gaze looking back at him, a smile on her face. She cupped her hand and shouted back, "You were right! I _do_ love the name!"

Jaune swore he could feel his smile practically splitting his face and it took every ounce of his willpower not to start jumping around, pumping his fist and shouting gleefully.

 _SCORE!_

* * *

 _ **Author's Note: Um...not much to say? Next chapter, we'll get a glimpse as to the rules of this Semblance, as well as an introduction to our first mini-game! Things have gone well so far, but with Ozpin's machinations, and Jaune's absurd (bad) luck, he might end up back in the same situation as Vacuo!**_

 _ **This is LaughingLefou, signing off for now!**_

 _ **And as always, remember to leave a review!**_


	4. These Titles Will All Be Meta Jokes

_I do not own RWBY_

 **Unwinnable**

 **Chapter 4: These Titles Will Mostly Be Meta Jokes**

* * *

"...for years, you have trained to become warriors, and today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." Ozpin's voice, despite its softness, somehow managed to reach across the long row of students standing above the eponymous Emerald Forest, staring ahead into the overgrowth that stretched on into infinity like an ocean of leaves. The weather was surprisingly nice, which was something that Jaune was personally thankful for. His gaze leveled upon the far distance, trying to see if he could spot any Grimm from his angle. He was praying that he'd be lucky, and that he'd end up somehow avoiding all the Grimm that were wandering the forest. Of course, knowing his luck, he'd end up accidentally stumbling upon some Grimm nest or something.

For all of his previous experience, Jaune Arc knew one thing above all else. He _sucked_ at combat. It honestly came as a surprise to him that he'd even been allowed into Beacon, what with his combat score having been among the lowest in all of Vacuo Preparatory School. However, Oswald had stated that despite having a low combat score, Jaune's other grades were actually surprisingly high, touting that Jaune was not the strongest, but could be counted as one of the smartest. His theoretical scores were actually through the roof; ranking B rank and above on everything from Grimm Knowledge, (months spent being forced to study with a number of nubile young women did drill _something_ into his head) Military History, (His father was a general, so it made sense that he'd have some knowledge in that field) Tactics and Logistics, (He was always pretty good at games, and what was Tactics and Logistics than a real life application of the strategies he'd learned?) and last, but certainly not least, Basic Dust Applications (Okay, sure, that was his single B grade, but hey, it was still an above average score! How could he complain about that?)

Hell, when he was actually partnered up with someone, or even better, part of a fully functioning team, he wasn't _that_ bad in combat. He certainly seemed to know the best times to take advantage of another person's openings, though he had Sun and Neptune to thank for that. The three of them had been thick as thieves. They were troublemakers, pranksters and amigos all. Sun was the Brawn, Jaune was the Brains, and Neptune...well, Neptune was Neptune. Jaune was thankful for them as friends; without them, he'd have been blundering around Beacon without a clue. Their escapades actually paved the way for Jaune's brilliance to grow, and while in a duel, he was just about useless, in anything else…

"...you will go into the forest and find the Ruins in the center. There, you will find relics we have had placed there for this Initiation." Ozpin's voice broke Jaune away from his thoughts, and he focused his attention back on the Headmaster's speech. _Focus, Jaune! You can't miss anything! He might give some sort of advice or a clue or something!_ Ozpin took yet another sip of his seemingly never ending coffee mug and continued on. "The first person you make eye contact with will be your partner for the next four years."

 _Wait, what?!_

"Do not hesitate to destroy anything in your path...or you will die." Ozpin's voice grew serious, and Jaune felt a shiver crawl up his spine. What was starting off as a wonderful day with new friends and the chance to get closer to _the_ Pyrrha Nikos, was now starting to suck terribly. He'd be stuck with the first person he laid eyes on? What if he ran into someone he hated? What if he ran into someone who hated him? Destroy everything in his path?!

"Uh...sir?" Jaune weakly queried.

"Yes, Mr. Arc?" Ozpin replied calmly, gazing at him from over his spectacles.

Jaune nervously looked off to the side, unable to gaze upon the faces of his fellow students. "Er, this might be a stupid question, but how exactly are we getting down there? Like are we walking? Are we parachuting in?"

"Actually, Mr. Arc," Ozpin began, a ghost of a smile playing about his lips, "You are being launched into the Forest. You're currently standing upon pneumatic catapults."

The blond Hunter-in-Training slowly dropped his sapphire gaze to the ground below, onto the metal square he'd been told to stand on at the beginning of Ozpin's speech. His mouth began to open and close like a goldfish. "S-s-so that means..."

Jaune swore he could _hear_ the smile in Ozpin's voice when he responded with, "You will have to find your own landing strategy."

 _FFF-THOOMPH!_ Jaune heard the sound of the students next to him being launched, seeing their forms flying through the air at an incredible velocity. Over and over, the sound reached his ears, growing louder and closer with each student. Some cheered, others remained silent. Jaune knew exactly what he'd be doing."Sir?" Jaune weakly replied, staring out into the Forest ahead.

"Yes?"

He took a deep breath and tensed his muscles. "I hate you."

 _FFF-THOOMPH!_

" **AIEEEEEEEE!** "

* * *

 **[Emerald Forest – Airspace]**

* * *

She never thought it would have happened. She'd all but given up on finding anyone, _anyone_ who wasn't going to treat her special. All she wanted, all she'd ask for, is one person. _Just one person_ , who wouldn't assume she was some Remnant-bound Goddess! So she came to Beacon Academy, hoping for a fresh start. Hoping to find a friend. A companion. Dare she even say it? A lover? She was seventeen for Oum's sake, and here she was, still single. Never a boyfriend, never even a date!

Instead, all she got was more of the same. She'd got to spend her first morning at Beacon listening to the Schnee heiress talk her ear off about the things she'd already heard before. All she went on about was how she was _so_ skilled and _so_ amazing and they should totally be partners and therefore help her stuck up attitude and her perfection streak. It was seriously starting to drive her mad.

Then…

He appeared. Pyrrha Nikos would never forget her first conversation with Jaune Arc. For once, someone who didn't know who she was! Someone who wasn't putting her on a pedestal! He even treated her like a normal person, like she was just another seventeen year old girl. It did help that he was cute as well; definitely up her alley. Some might have said she had strange tastes, but she liked tall, blond and noodley guys.

So she could be forgiven for having the tiniest of panic attacks when she heard Ozpin's speech about how the first person who she made eye contact with would have been her partner for the next for years! Her options, as far as she was concerned, was to either spend four years around the insufferably uptight Weiss Schnee, being tossed constantly into the spotlight...or, she could spend the next four years with tall, blond and noodley Jaune Arc, making friends with him, broadening her horizons and maybe even having her first romance…

She blushed and shook her head. There was time to think about that later. For now, she needed to focus on her mission. It would be easy, for sure. All she had to do was take out the Grimm, which wouldn't be an issue, then get a relic and get back. Simple and straight forward. With practiced grace and dexterity, the gorgeous Spartan landed upon the narrow branch of an oak tree, using her Semblance and her own armor to keep herself stabilized. All she had to do now was to keep an eye out for danger, (and Weiss) and get to the Ruins as quickly as she could-

" **AIEEEEEE!** "

Pyrrha's emerald gaze locked onto the screaming, flying student almost on instinct. Curiously, she tried to ascertain the identity of whatever student was screaming bloody murder. _Jaune!_ She thought fast, flipping Milo into spear form, aiming it for Jaune. She took aim and...watched as Jaune righted himself in mid air and withdrew his blade, flipping the sheath and hitting a switch to turn it into a shield. He fell to the tree line, and threw his shield underneath him, landing atop the shield and actually managing to skip across the treeline like a surfboard.

"Woo-hoo!" Jaune shouted, balancing on his shield as he continued to skip across the branches.

Hesitating, Pyrrha watched Jaune through the scope of Milo. She didn't really need to help him, so there was nothing to worry about, at least in her opinion. _Then again…_ If she _did_ lend a hand...the chances of her and Jaune becoming partners would be increased. One would almost say guaranteed? A small smirk came to her lips and she took aim once more, tensing her muscles and using her Aura to increase her strength before letting the spear loose and true on a collision course with Jaune.

* * *

 **[Emerald Forest – Airspace]**

* * *

 _Shield surfing! Thank you Sun! You've saved me again!_ Jaune couldn't help but grin at his quick thinking. Sun's habit of trying to find new ways to impress women, and roping him into it, had paid dividends he never thought of. Using his shielth as a surfboard, with the application of a little Aura, and he'd glide to a beautiful stop. With any luck, said stop would be very close, if not directly at the ruins. From there, it'd be a walk back to the cliff-side, and he'd be home free! Of course, there was the issue of finding a partner, but he'd try to make the best of whoever he ended up with.

 _Thud...thud...thud_

Jaune's smile grew wider with each passing bounce. He was actually having fun! Maybe this whole, 'being catapulted into the middle of a Grimm infested forest thing' wasn't _all_ bad! He kept himself balanced on his shield, steadying his figure as he tried to tilt his path to the side, directly toward the middle of the forest. At the rate he was going, he still had a good five or six skips! His sapphire gaze narrowed and he focused on the spot he assumed he'd eventually land, getting sword held at the ready in case any Grimm were lying in wait.

 _What's that whistling noise?_

Something suddenly caught him by the hood of his hoodie and launched him forward, the object slamming him into a fairly large tree ahead and pinning him too it with a loud _twaaannggggg!_ Unfortunately, the object had hit him from behind, and instead of being pinned to the tree facing forward, he was instead slammed face first into the rough bark of the tree.

"Ow." Jaune's voice was muffled. He groaned and reached up to feel his nose. "Yep. That's blood." Shaking his head, the young man tried to push himself away from the tree, only managing to get a foot of space between himself and the trunk of the massive tree. "Who the hell thought this was a good idea?"

" _I'm sorry!_ " A somewhat familiar voice echoed over the treetops, confusing the blond Hunter-in-Training.

"Great." He looked up and found himself staring up at a bronze spear, the weapon having pierced straight through his hood and burying itself deep into the tree. "Just wonderful. Who did this?! Why?" He slumped, hanging freely in the air, arms dangling helplessly at his sides. "Just my luck. I do good on the landing, and someone decides to pin me to a tree. I'm stuck here until someone gets me down, aren't I?" He tilted his head, staring at the tree trunk, silence falling over him. He remained silent as the seconds ticked past, then minutes.

"Boooooored." Jaune muttered. "I need something to pass the time...wait a minute!" The blond snapped his fingers and grinned. "I can look at that user manual!"

No sooner had the words passed his lips than a holographic window appeared before his very eyes, colored green with the text: **User Manual** at the very top.

* * *

 **User Manual**

 **Table of Contents**

 **1.) Introduction**

 **2.) Interest Meter**

 **3.) Stat Window**

 **4.) Minigames**

 **5.) Locked Routes/Options**

 **6.) Hints and Tips**

* * *

 _Smack!_ Jaune's palm met his forehead and he sighed. "This _seriously_ would have been helpful a _long_ time ago. Oh well, better late than never, I suppose. Let's see here...might as well start at the beginning." Jaune's hand reached out and pressed against the holographic window, pressing directly on the **Introduction** option.

* * *

 **Introduction**

 **Congratulations! You are now the proud owner of the Harem King Semblance! What is the Harem King Semblance, you ask? Why, only the greatest Semblance on all of Remnant! With the help of this Semblance, (and this guide) you can become the strongest, most charismatic and well loved hero in all of Remnant! Also, you know, it'd help with propagating the Arc family,** _ **hint hint**_ **.**

* * *

Jaune blinked. "That's...a bit on the nose. Who ever heard of a Semblance who insists on trying to get its user laid?" He pinched the bridge of his nose, sighed and read on.

* * *

 **How can propagating the Arc Family help you become a stronger hero? Well, finding out is half the fun! The more women you add to your harem, the stronger you become! Continue reading to find out how to best utilize and understand this Semblance.**

* * *

"Half the what now? Are you serious? God, it's not bad enough my Semblance has decided to screw with my every day life, but now it has to have some sick sense of humor about it?" He shook his head, and reached his hand out again to press the button for the next page.

* * *

 **Interest Meter**

 **So, you want to know how close you are to a girl, do you? Well, with the help of his handy, dandy Semblance, you can gauge just how close you are to a young maiden's heart! When you are given the message that a particular target's interest in you has increased, you can check up on just how far you've come with her by checking her Interest Meter! As you increase her interest in you, so too will the meter grow.**

 **How does one increase the interest of a beautiful potential target, you ask?**

* * *

"No. I'm not asking that. In fact, I'd like to know how to _decrease_ their interest, if at all possible."

* * *

 **First, there's of course the obvious answer of choosing correct answers when you're given the prompts. Certain answers can increase interest from a slight amount, all the way to a dramatic increase in interest! This isn't the only way one can increase the interest of a lovely young woman, however. Impressing your targets through winning minigames can help increase interest by a sizable amount! Furthermore, you can actual increase interest on your own! Being simply charming in your everyday occurrences can be the biggest source of interest! Saying the right that at the right time can turn a potential target into a love interest!**

 **What other information can you grasp from a potential love interest? Read on to find out:**

* * *

"Interesting. I'm guessing I can view the Interest Meter by-" Jaune stopped speaking abruptly when he noticed a pink window open up, with a list of names and various meters comprised of different boxes. "Ruby Rose...Yang Xiao Long...Weiss Schnee...Blake Belladona...Pyrrha Nikos...Yep. All the girls I've interacted with here so far. Weiss and Blake aren't even a single box filled...Ruby and Yang have one box filled and it appears that Pyrrha...Pyrrha's got two boxes filed! Well, I did get that message that said she had a slight crush on me. Me! Of all people!" Jaune felt a little giddy at the thought. "Alright, I'm...learning a bit more. Let's keep reading-"

"Jaune?" A voice called out to him, interrupting his musings. As if reading his mind, the holographic windows closed on him.

The blond tried to turn around, but his hoodie hampered his movement, so all he could do was flail around randomly. "Er, yes, that's me. Unless there's some other highly attractive, hoodie wearing blond man in the forest. Maybe my cousin Juan?" Jaune joked, hoping whoever it was would appreciate his strange sense of humor.

 **[Pyrrha's interest has increased!]**

 _Pyrrha?_ Jaune cocked an eyebrow. "Wait, is this your spear?"

"U-um...I um..." Jaune tried to turn around as Pyrrha nervously laughed. "I thought you...might have had trouble with your landing strategy?" _Oh, great going!_ Pyrrha chastised herself. _Like he'd believe that!_

"Oh! Nah, I was cool once I was finished with the stupid catapult. Just wasn't expecting it, was all." Jaune twisted once again. "Er...don't suppose you could get me down though?"

"R-right!" Pyrrha answered with a relieved laugh.

Jaune waited for her to climb up the tree or something...only for the spear to somehow pull itself out. He blinked, and found himself falling down the tree. "GAH!" He gave a cry of surprise, not expecting the sudden fall. Instead of hitting the ground and breaking his butt like he expected, he was surprised to feel himself being caught by a pair of arms. His eyes opened up and he found himself staring into the emerald eyes of one Pyrrha Nikos, smiling at him softly. "Erm...hi?"

Pyrrha gave a melodic laugh. "Hello again. I believe, if my memory serves me correctly, that we're now partners?"

Jaune began to speak, but a small _beep_ emitted from from his Scroll and he pulled it out of his pocket. _Jaune Arc/Pyrrha Nikos. Partner confirmed._ "It appears as though you're right." Jaune grinned sheepishly at her, and added, "So...um..any chance you could put me down?"

Pyrrha's cheeks went pink and she quickly let go of him, letting him drop to his feet. "S-sorry."

"Hey, don't worry about it. So, partner," Jaune replied back, smiling warmly at Pyrrha, "Where to now?"

 **[Pyrrha Nikos' interest has increased!]**

"I'll leave that to you, Jaune. As much as a surprise as it may seem, I'm not one for taking the leader role. I hope you don't mind?"

Jaune shook his head. "Nope. Kinda used to it myself, if only because if I left it up to my old friends, we'd have spent our entire time at school in detention." He chuckled to himself, shaking his head.

"Oh? It sounds like you had quite the time at your old school. Got any interesting stories you'd like to share?" Pyrrha queried, following behind Jaune as the young man began walking in the direction he assumed the ruins would be.

He stopped in mid stride, Pyrrha almost walking right into him, and he gave a nervous laugh as his mind conjured up images of a horde of schoolgirls, screaming their affection for him. _Oh hell no! I am NOT Telling her about that!_ "Um...perhaps later? I think we should focus on the mission ahead...eheheh..."

 **[Pyrrha Nikos' interest has increased!]**

 _Wait, seriously? How...how easy is it to increase her interest? I'm not even trying!_

Pyrrha's eyes gleamed. "Jaune? You're absolutely correct. I think you and I are going to make quite the partnership..."

* * *

 _ **Author's Note: Yeah, I know, I said I'd be working on Ninja in Love, but I couldn't help but keep writing for Unwinnable, especially with how popular it's been getting lately. Seriously, this is turning out to be another Immortal! Not that I'm complaining, you guys are awesome! I probably should have a schedule, but that would be intelligent and responsible, and that's just silly! I'll try working on some of the other fics soon, but for now, hope this tides you over!**_

 _ **This is LaughingLefou signing off for now!**_

 _ **And as usual, remember to leave a review!**_


	5. I'm Terribly Irresponsible!

_I do not own RWBY_

 **Unwinnable**

 **Chapter 5: I Should Be Working On Other Fics, But I'm Terribly Irresponsible!**

The walk through the forest was surprisingly uneventful, which was something that Jaune could use more of in his life. He and Pyrrha made small talk, mostly chatting about their time spent at Beacon thus far. However, that could only last them so long, as their experience so far had been for only a couple of days. Eventually their conversation dried up, and Jaune was growing a little nervous. _Crap! Why can't I figure out what to talk to her about?! It would help if she wouldn't keep dodging questions about herself...not like I can talk to her about my past._ "Um...so, n-nice weather we're having here?"

"Hm? Oh, yes, it's quite lovely out." Pyrrha mused, emerald eyes glancing all over, checking for possible danger.

Jaune sighed and slumped. _Great. The weather. You've run out of things to say. This is the point where Pyrrha thinks you're incredibly boring. Hm...there's got to be a way I can talk about my time at Vacuo Preparatory School without mentioning the...erm...girls._ "Heh, f-funny story, this reminds me o-of my time at Vacuo."

The blond Hunter-In-Training noticed Pyrrha turning to him out of the corner of his eye. "Oh? I figured you'd rather not talk about your past."

"W-w-w-what g-gave you that idea?!" Jaune squeaked out, his laugh coming out too high pitched for his liking. "I, um, j-just didn't want to bore you!"

Pyrrha gave another melodic laugh. "Jaune, I'm certain that any tales you have would be far from boring. I'd like to know more about my partner."

"As would I." Jaune murmured. From the corner of his eye, he saw Pyrrha's eyes widen slightly, and her gaze turn away, as though ashamed.

 **[Pyrrha Nikos' interest has slightly decreased!]**

 _Ah! No! I didn't want_ _ **her**_ _interest to decrease!_ "B-but," Jaune began once more, quickly amending his statement, "I can wait until you're ready."

 **[Pyrrha Nikos' interest has increased]**

Pyrrha turned back to him, and flashed him what was one of the most beautiful smiles he'd ever seen on anyone's face. Combined with the sun, that had managed to just crest over the treeline and illuminate her from behind, and he felt his breath catch in his throat. "Thank you, Jaune. I promise, we'll talk about me later on. I won't expect you to tell me everything about yourself, and receive nothing in return."

"S-sure. Right." Jaune nodded. "Well...I, um...I guess you could say I was...fairly popular back in school? I really don't want to sound like I'm bragging but I guess you could say I was..." Jaune went quiet, thinking of the correct word to use. "Charismatic?"

Pyrrha nodded. "I can certainly see that."

"Wait, you can?"

She nodded. "Of course. In fact, I think you'd make a wonderful leader, Jaune."

Jaune almost tripped over his own feet in surprise. "Oh, um, thanks! I guess I always was kinda in that role, but if I wasn't, I'd have been in detention more than actual class..."

Pyrrha giggled. "Oh?"

'

"Yeah," Jaune continued, flashing Pyrrha a smile of his own. "Me, Sun Wukong and Neptune Vasilias were the three biggest troublemakers in all of Vacuo Preparatory School. We'd pull pranks on professors, Sun and Neptune would try to pick up girls, and I'd be the one who'd mastermind most of the plans." Jaune gave a laugh, his gaze distant as he delved into memories. "I could probably spend a straight week with all the stories of all the crazy stuff we've done."

The Spartan raised a single eyebrow. "Oh? That sounds interesting! Don't suppose you could regale me with a few?"

"I'd love to," Jaune began, "But shouldn't we keep an eye out for Grimm?"

"There _is_ such thing as multitasking you know, Jaune." Pyrrha gently teased, emerald eyes sparkling.

"I-I know that!" Jaune frowned. "I'm not saying you can't, I'm just saying I'm not that...erm...perceptive."

"True. Well, then how about you tell me a few stories once we finish with Initiation?" Pyrrha suggested, her gaze scanning shadows around them for any suspicious activity.

"Sure. Only problem is figuring out which ones to tell! I've got quite a few." Jaune mused with a smile.

"That many?"

"Yep. There's the time Sun convinced me to surf sand dunes with Crocea Mors' shielth. Then there's the time that Neptune tried to hit on a pair of twins. Oh, and our crowning moment of awesome, the massive raid on every single pair of p-" Jaune froze and tripped in mid stride, choking on his own words. _NO! DO NOT TELL HER ABOUT THE PANTY RAID!_

Pyrrha stood over him, cocking an eyebrow as if she knew what he was about to say. "Every pair of what now?"

"Erm, n-nothing! D-did I say we went on a raid?" Jaune began laughing high pitched and nervously. "W-what I meant to say...erm..." Jaune's blue eyes flickered about as his mind raced to figure out a reasonable excuse to distract Pyrrha from his near slip-up. As the redheaded Spartan continued to stare at him expectantly, her expression slowly growing more and more suspicious, Jaune felt himself sweating. _No, no! I don't want her to lose interest! Come on Semblance, if you're going to try to get me a girlfriend, now's the time to give me a hand!_

 _BANG!_

Jaune and Pyrrha both snapped their gaze to the distance, the sound of a gunshot echoing through the trees. "It appears our allies have encountered the enemy!" Pyrrha mused, hands already grasping for her weapons.

The blond boy got to his feet, silently thanking whoever was listening for helping him out of his plight. "We need to catch up to them, quickly!" Jaune unsheathed his blade and rushed forward, Pyrrha hot on his heels as they made their way towards their sound of battle. They rushed through the forest at breakneck speeds, weaving in and out of the trees. Luckily for the both of them, the sounds of battle were few and far between, but there were still sounds of combat in the distance. As Jaune and Pyrrha got closer to the ruins, the sounds of battle grew louder, with sounds of gunshots echoing in the skies above and sounds of crashing trees signaled that the fighting was growing heavier by the second.

Eventually, the two made their way to a large cave, sitting amidst the forest. They stopped before it, and Jaune wordlessly spoke to himself as he tried to decide whether or not to enter the cave. "Jaune?" Pyrrha's voice caught his attention and he turned to his partner. "We should keep moving."

"Shouldn't we head into the cave?" Jaune asked, narrowing his eyes to try peering into the darkness of the cave. "There might be a short cut through there to where everyone else is. Not to mention, Ozpin might have hidden some of the relics in there."

"Um, Jaune? He did say the relics would be hidden in some ruins. Further more, why would there be a shortcut through a cave?" Pyrrha queried, tilting her head.

Jaune opened his mouth to retort, but moments later, his face froze and twisted into a mask of one part confusion and one part shame. "R-right..." He shook his head, looking away from Pyrrha in embarrassment. The Spartan stepped toward him and placed a hand on his shoulder in a comforting manner, as though she understood his sudden humiliation. "Let's get moving again?"

Pyrrha chuckled, ignoring Jaune's poorly hidden attempt at changing the subject. "Indeed. If we're lucky, by the time we find them there will still be Grimm left to fight!"

Jaune stopped once more, Pyrrha running on ahead and gave a nervous laugh. "Y-yeah...lucky..."

 **[Emerald Forest – Ruins]**

" _Huff...puff..._ " Doubling over, Jaune collapsed to his knees, desperately sucking in air. "Couldn't...you slow...down a little?" Jaune managed to choke out, looking up at Pyrrha who gave a small smile.

"Hey you two!" A voice interrupted Pyrrha's response. Both Pyrrha and Jaune looked toward the ruins where Yang Xiao Long walked forward to greet them. Behind her stood the figure of Blake Belladona with her arms crossed. "So, I take it you two are partners?"

"Indeed!" Exclaimed Pyrrha. "Is everyone okay?"

Yang nodded. "Yep. Some Grimm came through, but we managed to take them out in no time. Enough about that though!" The buxom blond rushed forward and the moment Jaune got to his feet, threw an arm around his shoulder. "So, you and Cereal Girl, huh? Aren't you the lucky one?"

"W-w-what?" Jaune stammered out, blood rushing to his face. "The hell are you talking about?"

"Aw, come on Lady Killer, you can't tell me you aren't excited to have _the_ Pyrrha Nikos as your partner? I mean, look at her!" Yang elbowed Jaune, knocking the wind out of his lungs. Luckily for Jaune, Pyrrha had already moved toward the ruins proper to grab one of the many relics still sitting upon the pedestals laying about.

Jaune groaned, attempting to step forward, only to be caught in a headlock by the overeager blond woman. "Yes, Yang, I can see her." _Trust me, I've been looking at her for a while now._ "And we _just_ met, Yang. There's nothing going on between us." _Well, not yet anyway._

Yang flashed him an ear to ear smile. "Don't sell yourself short, Vomit Boy!"

"Yang?" Blake's voice called out. "You grabbed a relic, right?"

The brawler let go of Jaune, causing him to drop to the ground, coughing and groaning. "Nah, I'll let you handle that. Pick something interesting, would ya?" She walked off, leaving Jaune hunched over and groaning.

"Ow..." The Hunter-in-training staggered to his feet, only to be met with his partner, her hand outstretched with the relic in hand. "A Rook, huh?"

Pyrrha nodded. "I tried to figure out what would be the best piece to represent our purpose. We protect others. What better piece than the piece known for protecting the King?"

Jaune shrugged. "I'm personally more of a Knight person, but Rooks aren't half bad either."

"A Knight? What's your reasoning behind that?"

"Well," Jaune began, stroking his chin, "The Knight is one of the strangest pieces on the board. At first glance, it doesn't seem nearly as strong as the other pieces, what with its strange and limited movement. However, in the hands of an intelligent player, the Knight may very well be the strongest piece on the board. It's an underestimated piece that hides incredible strength."

The Spartan's emerald gaze widened in surprise. "That's...quite surprising insight, Jaune. Do you play chess?"

Jaune shrugged. "A little." Of course, he wasn't going to tell her that he'd been almost forced to spend a few weeks being taught the art of chess by some overbearing silver-haired beauty. _What was her name again? Autumn? Spring? Summer?_ He shook his head, clearing his thoughts of the unimportant event. "So I wonder how the Team placement's going to be? I mean in Vacuo, it was just kinda by Professor's choice. Hell, some people never got into a team until the last year."

"Really? Sounds kind of slapdash." Pyrrha murmured, frowning.

"Yeah, Headmaster Oswald is...well...he's a bit absentminded when it comes to organization." Jaune mirrored Pyrrha's expression. "I lucked out, he put Neptune, Sun and I on the same Team."

"Who was the last person?"

Jaune opened his mouth, and froze. "Erm...now that you mention it, I don't quite recall. I think his name was something like...Chesir-"

 _Crash! Crunch!_

The sound of leaves crunching and branches crashing alerted everyone's attention to the far side of the ruins, where an Ursa stumbled almost drunkenly into the clearing. Pyrrha, Jaune, Yang and Blake all stepped back, readying their weapons and preparing for the inevitable table. However, the beast, instead of attacking, proceeded to pitch forward and slammed into the ground with an earthshaking _THUD_! Atop its back was a young orange haired woman with a hammer slung across her back and an ear to ear grin that sent shivers of panic running through Jaune's spine. "Aww," She whined when the Ursa began to smoke and disintegrate, "It broke!"

"Nora! Wait up!" Another voice, this one a male's voice, spoke up from behind her and from out of the woods came a young man in green clothes, doubled over as he tried to catch his breath. Jaune immediately felt a pang of sympathy for the poor man, recognizing him as the beleaguered soul he'd seen in the Great Hall that morning. The orange haired woman ignored him and rushed forward to the rest of the group, who were staring at this particular scene with curiosity and confusion.

"Hey!" The young woman, Nora, from what Jaune could tell, cheerfully cried out waving to them. "I'm Nora Valkyrie! This is my friend, Lie Ren! We're together! Well, not _together_ -together, 'cause that'd be awkward, but, well, you know what I mean!"

Jaune blinked and opened his mouth, closing it shortly thereafter in confusion, unable to come up with the words to speak with. Pyrrha spoke in his stead. "It...it's a pleasure to meet you, Nora."

"Ooh," Nora exclaimed, half-ignoring Pyrrha's demure greeting, "Are those the relics?!" The hyperactive girl rushed forward with a speed that Jaune was fairly certain to be impossible. She ran past them, leaving her stoic friend behind, who simply just gave up on trying to stop her. Lie Ren stepped beside Jaune, extending a hand. "A pleasure to meet you all."

Jaune took his hand and shook it. "Jaune Arc. This is Pyrrha Nikos."

"Ooh, Ren, look!" Nora cried out, grabbing a golden Rook. "It's a castle! I'm Queen of the Castle! I'm Queen of the Castle!" Nora began to sing song loudly, earning a very exasperated smile from her stoic companion.

"She's awfully hyper..." Blake murmured, Jaune managing to pick up on it. 

"I think that's putting it mildly," Jaune responded, earning a demure chuckle from the raven haired beauty in return. He stopped and looked around, frowning. "Hey...has anyone seen Ruby? Or Weiss?"

"Not yet." Yang replied, her own features mirroring the unease she felt. The blond woman looked around, frowning, unconsiously wringing her hands. This gesture did not go unnoticed by her fellow blond, who placed a hand gently on her shoulder with a smile.

"I'm sure she's fine. Ruby seems like a tough girl. I bet you she's gotten distracted by kicking eight different kinds of Grimm butt." Jaune tried to cheer up the brawler.

"You're probably right. Thanks, Jaune. Still, I hope she hurries up..." Yang murmured.

" _AAAAAHHHH!_ " A scream caught the attention of everyone in the clearing, and Jaune looked up to see a passive shadow cross between the sun and himself, cloaking everything in darkness. A Nevermore bigger than anything Jaune had ever laid eyes on flew above them, causing him to pale in fear. However, something else caught his eye; a red hooded figure plummeting to the ground, falling uncontrollably. Without thinking, Jaune rushed forward to try and catch the falling figure. As he did so, the great bird gave a mighty flap of its pitch black wings, a series of feathers launching at the blond young man and threatening to impale him as he made his way to catch Ruby. His blue eyes widened as the rain of death fell upon him and-

 **[Combat Minigame – Vs. Nevermore]**

 **[Accept? Y/N]**

 **[Reward: Increased Interest For All Paths]**

 **[Failure: Ruby Rose Path Permanently Locked]**

Jaune froze, his blood feeling like ice in his veins. He shook, even as the entire world stopped cold around him. The message, in a bright, cherry red color, floated before his very eyes. "Permanently...locked..." Jaune didn't need a dictionary to know what that meant. Ruby Rose would die if he failed. Without even a second more of hesitation, his hand shot forth to push the Yes option as hard as he could.

 **[Would you like to view the tutorial? Y/N]**

For once, Jaune felt himself smiling. "Hell yes I do!" The blond boy hit the confirmation, and the world suddenly lurched into movement. A brief moment of panic flooded his senses and he almost froze, when before his very eyes, he swore he saw a glowing arrow floating before him, pointing to the right. The world suddenly froze again, and a new window popped up before his very eyes.

 **[Before you is a movement indicator. Follow the arrow's movement to dodge enemy attacks! Success means you avoid an attack, failure means you take damage!]**

 __Suddenly Jaune was made aware of a strange meter floating just in the corner of his vision, moving whenever he moved his head. It was glowing faintly, and was currently full. "The hell is this?" His Semblance, as though it were listening to him, erased the previous message, and a new one popped up before him.

 **[The meter you see is your Aura. If it runs out completely, you fail the mission! Luckily, it recovers over time. Make sure to dodge attacks to keep your Aura full!]**

The blonde hunter-in-training nodded. "Make sense. Alright, let's do this!" He pumped his fist and like that, the entire world started up again, the grays, whites and blacks of the frozen world flooding with color, and Jaune moved to the right. A second later, a large black feather with a point as sharp as a spear slammed into the ground mere feet from where he had been standing, the wind from the force of the blow fluttering Jaune's hair.

Another arrow blinked, this one pointing behind him, and Jaune threw the brakes on his movement, stepping backward. No sooner had he done so, then another feather pierced the ground before him, causing him to bite his tongue lest he scream out in surprise. Suddenly, another glowing sigil appeared, but this one was that of a glowing shield. Once again, time froze, and Jaune noticed that another feather was barreling down on him like a javelin. He gulped and looked down at the new message that had appeared.

 **[A shield icon means to use your shield to deflect an oncoming attack! Watch out, as shielding incorrectly can still cause you to take damage! Shielding correctly can also put you at an advantage as well! Occasionally, you'll see arrow icons with shield icons. This means that you have to be on your toes, dodging one attack while deflecting another!]**

Time once again started, and Jaune raised the shield of Crocea Mors to guard his face and torso. Something hit his shield head on, sending a wave of pain to run up his arm, causing it to go slightly numb afterward. He noticed his Aura meter had dipped down, and silently cursed himself. However, he couldn't stop for too long as Ruby was still falling. He kept moving, following the directions of the arrows that appeared before him, weaving in and out of the deadly hail as he made his way to Ruby's form. However, he was still too slow, and he knew he wouldn't make it in time.

With a deep breath and a concentrated burst of effort, Jaune pushed himself as hard as he could, his feet kicking off the ground and propelling him forward as hard as he could go. Another arrow appeared before him, pointing to the left, but Jaune ignored it, praying it wouldn't take too much of his Aura when it hit. The feather flew through the air and as expected, landed against Jaune. He was lucky, and the feather simply grazed him, but it was enough to open up a wound in his side, causing him to give a hiss of pain.

The last second. Ruby was plumetting towards the ground at speeds that would seriously injure her even with Aura. Jaune himself was at half Aura, the last hit having taken over a quarter of his Aura to heal, and even that still had his shirt stained crimson with the wound he'd taken. He took a flying leap, and Ruby landed in his arms as the two of the hit the ground, skidding hard along the dirt path. The Nevermore above gave a great, earsplitting screech, as though it had been robbed of its prey as it began to circle around.

"Are you okay?" Jaune choked out, looking over Ruby's form for injuries.

"Yeah, I think so-" Ruby began, but froze upon seeing Jaune's blood-stained, ripped shirt. "Jaune! You're hurt!"

Jaune shook his head. "My Aura took care of it. You sure you're okay?"

Ruby nodded. "Yeah, thanks. You saved me..." She murmured, her cheeks slightly pink.

 **[Minigame Complete!]**

 **[Ruby Rose's interest has increased!]**

 **[Pyrrha Nikos' interest has increased sharply!]**

 **[Yang Xiao Long's interest has increased sharply!]**

 **[Blake Belladona's interest has increased!]**

Jaune couldn't help but sigh in relief. Ruby was okay, and for once, he didn't care that he'd just attracted more attention. He got to his feet, helping Ruby up to hers, and frowned. "Hey, have you seen Weiss?" Ruby began to open her mouth, but another scream echoed through the treeline, and Jaune looked up to see Weiss clinging to the Nevermore's back as it flew around. The blond gave a whimper and a sigh, already feeling an aching in his legs and his side. "Oh man...here we go again..."

 _ **Author's Note: Sorry for the lack of updates recently, but between being sick, my friend opening up a new Minecraft server, and Fallout 4 releasing its first DLC, i've found myself horribly distracted! I'm very sorry for this unprofessional attitude, and I do hope this will at least go some way in making that up to you. I still have Ninja In Love about a third finished, and Phantom Nevermore: Moonlit Sonata has just been started, so look forward to those in the coming week.**_

 _ **And remember to leave a review!**_


	6. I Really Need A Writing Schedule

_I do not own RWBY_

 **Unwinnable**

 **Chapter 6: I Really Need A Writing Schedule**

" _AAAAHHHH!_ "

Jaune kicked off the ground and began running as fast as he could, swearing under his breath. After the first few steps, the sound of wind rushing alerted Jaune to incoming death, and it was only through the most frantic of backpedals, falling onto his rear as a pitch-black feather pierced the dirt mere inches from his prone form. "Gah!" He looked up, and gave a breath of relief as he noticed Weiss still hanging on to the Grimm. He still had time to catch up, but something was bothering him. Namely…

 _Why the hell isn't the mini-game kicking in?! Why did it help me with Ruby, but not Weiss?_

"Weiss!" Ruby's voice shouted out, and Jaune felt a gust of wind blow by him. A trail of rose petals led from where Ruby was once sitting, and all the way to underneath the Nevermore where Ruby was trying her best to keep up with it. "Weiss! I'll catch you! Just jump!"

"Jaune!" The blond heard his partner's cry as Pyrrha caught up with him, kneeling down next to him and tenderly trying to check on his wound to make sure he hadn't been too badly hurt. "Are you okay? How badly did you get hurt? You need to be more careful!"

If the situation hadn't been so serious, Jaune would have been blushing at his partner's extreme concern. As it was, he couldn't help but feel a warmth diffusing through him at her touch. "Pyrrha, I'm fine. My Aura's already taking care of it. It looks worse than it is." He lifted his shirt, and pointed to the red mark on his skin where the wound used to be. "See?"

Pyrrha gave a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. Please, be careful next time! I'd be upset if I lost my partner so soon."

Jaune shook his head. "I had it under control. Besides, if I didn't, Ruby would be... _Ruby!_ " He shouted for Ruby, as the young girl disappeared into the underbrush. Jaune scrambled to his feet and rushed on after her to the cries of his partner. Through branches and leaves he stumbled, trying to keep up with the red-hooded girl. "Ruby! Wait up!"

" _Ruby!_ " Jaune could hear Yang's voice shout out, and something yellow shot past him with surprising speed. The busty brawler rushed as fast as she could, firing off shots from her gauntlet shotguns to increase her speed. Right on her heels, Blake rushed as fast as she could over the trees, leaping from branch to branch to keep up with her partner.

Jaune began to open his mouth, but was cut off as a cry of "Wait for us!" Within moments, he was overtaken by Nora and Ren running side by side.

"Hey-wait for-" Jaune began, but stumbled forward as a flash of bright red obscured his vision, the trailing ponytail of his partner brushing against him as she ran forward as well.

"Hurry up, Jaune! We have to catch up to the rest!" Pyrrha shouted over her shoulder, running forth.

With a groan, the blond slowed down and eventually stopped, panting and wheezing. He threw his hands up and sighed. "Why do I bother?" the male blond muttered. "God, I _really_ shouldn't have skipped out on cardio class..." He began walking through the forest after the group, hoping that he'd catch up in time. _At the very least, I shouldn't have to worry about Ruby or Weiss, what with everyone following after them like that._ He stuck his hands in his pockets and began to whistle tunelessly. _Hell, might as well take my time. It's not like I'm in charge here...not like back in Vacuo…_

 **[Four Years Prior – Vacuo Preparatory School]**

How the hell did he end up here?

One minute, he'd been playing in the attic of his home, and he'd stumbled across the family blade, Crocea Mors, locked away in a dusty trunk. He'd went to grab the blade, trying to pretend he was a knight, protecting a damsel in distress or some such, when he suddenly felt himself filled with an impossible energy. Feeling like he was on a sugar rush like no other, the young boy found himself rushing down the stairs...and falling down them instead. His mother panicked, fearing her little boy was injuredbadly...only to find out he was perfectly fine.

It didn't take long for the Arc family to find out the only male heir had his Aura unlocked. No one claimed responsibility, and after a while, they began to wonder how Jaune managed to unlock it. Did the fall down the stairs unlock it? After interrogating the young boy for a while, the only thing they managed to get out of him was that his Aura manifested the moment he'd touched Crocea Mors. His father, thinking it a sign from above, almost immediately contacted Patch Academy...which unfortunately had already started that year. However, Vacuo Preparatory School had yet to start, and within two weeks, the young boy found himself on a Bullhead to the Preparatory School with the words of advice his parents and sisters gave him still ringing in his ears.

So here he was, in the middle of the desert, staring at a massive sandstone structure that made up the school. He'd be there for four years, upon which he'd end up transferring to another Academy for his proper Huntsman training.

"It's so big..." Jaune's attention was yanked away from his awe-inspired inspection of his new domicile to find himself staring at a girl around his age, with rose-colored hair and gray eyes. She stared, slack jawed at the building before suddenly realizing Jaune was standing next to her, her gaze snapping right to him. "Are you a student too?!"

Jaune began to open his mouth, ready to introduce himself. After all, he wanted to make a good first impression, just like his mother said to do. He'd make his parents proud, and have lots and lots of good friends! However, as soon as the young blond boy took a deep breath to speak, the world around him suddenly seemed to...freeze. There was no other term to explain it. The colors of the world all around him, the young girl to his side, even the school before him all turned to grays, whites and blacks.

"W-w-w-w-WHAAAAAAAT?!" Jaune screamed, stumbling to the ground in terror, shaking. "Why is everything stopped?! What's going on?! Please, someone help!"

The young boy grabbed the girl by the shoulders and tried to shake her, but she wouldn't budge.

"Oh god, oh god, oh god! I just broke reality! Cerise was right, reality _did_ break when I talked to a girl!" The young blond boy began to run back and forth, flailing his arms over his head in a scene that would have had even the most serious-minded Huntsman chuckling.

If that wasn't funny enough, while he was running about, a colored window appeared out of nowhere, floating at about face level. Because said window appeared while Jaune's back was turned, when he turned around to run back in the other direction, the young blond instead slammed face first into the window, knocking him to the ground. "Ow..." He groaned and slowly got to his feet, swaying back and forth. With a shake of his head, the young Huntsman-in-Training blinked and looked at the window with a confused frown. "What...what is this?"

 **A.) Oh, no, I'm just a tourist.**

 **B.) That's none of your business.**

 **C.) Yeah! The name is Jaune Arc. You are?**

 **D.) You bet I am, cutie.**

Jaune stared at the four buttons for a while, confused. Four options. Four choices. "Um...what the hell is this?" His hand hovered over the window, trying to figure out why it was there. "Is this supposed to answer her question?" Jaune lowered his hands and turned around, scratching his chin. "Is this like a video game or something? What's the right answer? What happens if I say the wrong answer?!" He began to pace back and forth muttering to himself.

In mid stride however, he'd failed to notice a raised portion of the walkway and his foot caught onto it, causing him to suddenly trip. "Gah!" His hand shot forth to try to break his fall...only to end up hitting the window and hitting one of the four buttons. Before he could react, everything shifted, and suddenly color returned to the world and he found himself standing in the exact same position he was in before time had stopped.

That was when it happened.

His mouth began to move, his body being controlled by an invisible puppeteer, and air was forced through his lungs and he began speaking without his own control. "You bet I am, cutie."

 _WHAT?! WHY CAN'T I SPEAK WHAT I WANT?! I DIDN'T WANT TO SAY THAT!_ Jaune inwardly began to panic, but his body refused to let him apologize, or explain or anything.

The young girl began to blush furiously and she raised her hand to twirl a lock of her rose colored hair around a finger, shifting in place with a small smile. "Y-you...think I'm cute?"

"Yep!" Jaune uncontrollably replied, his outward appearance not revealing his inner turmoil and panic. "Oh, my name's Jaune Arc!"

"M-my name is May. May Zedong." The young girl answered back, her cheeks still as pink as her hair. "Did you want to w-walk with me to the auditorium?" She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, looking up at Jaune with a shy aside glance.

Jaune suddenly felt his body return to his own control, being able to move of his own free will, blinking in confusion for a few seconds before experimentally opening his mouth and replying with, "S-s-sure?"

"Awesome!" May shouted, jumping in place before grabbing his arm and pulling him along the sandstone walkway to the school proper. "Oh, what's your weapon? Mine is this awesome sniper rifle!"

 **[May Zedong's interest has increased!]**

 **[You are now friends with May Zedong!]**

Another window, this one a different color and translucent, appeared before Jaune for a few moments, causing him to tilt his head with even further confusion than before. However, his attention was immediately brought back to May as she continued pulling him along, evidently overjoyed to have made a friend. "I wonder what classes we'll have to take! Will they let us use Dust?" May excitedly blathered on and on, much to Jaune's ever growing confusion. The window had vanished a few seconds after it had appeared, and finally, the blond could take no more.

"M-may?"

"What's up?" She tilted her head expectantly.

"Did...did you see...any of that?"

The girl scratched her head in obvious confusion. "Saw what?"

Jaune frowned deeply and raised an eyebrow. "The whole...time...stopping thing! The weird windows with all the messages and stuff!"

"Time stopping…? Wait, what if that's your Semblance!" May shouted, gray eyes wide and expression overjoyed.

"What...what's a Semblance?"

May grinned. "Oh, a Semblance is a unique ability everyone has! It's a reflection of your soul! Maybe you can stop time! I bet that's super useful!"

"It would be, if I could do anything while it happens...or even how to trigger it..." Jaune muttered, looking aside even as he tried to process the information he'd received.

"Oh, there's my friend! I'll talk to you later Jaune!" May abruptly shouted, once again tearing Jaune's attention away from his inner thoughts. He watched as the rose-haired girl bounced off excitedly after another girl further down the pathway.

"Well, great. My first friend has already abandoned me..." Jaune muttered with a sigh. The day was off to the strangest start, what with the odd messages, and the time stopping and the overly excitable girl. The blond trudged his way into the school proper, taking his time to look all around and take mental notes of what was where. It'd be embarrassing to get lost so early in the school year.

Through hallways, past lockers and empty classrooms, Jaune traveled around the school, but after a while he had to admit one undeniable thing. He was lost. "I should have grabbed a map or something before I wandered over here..." Jaune groaned, looking up at the vaulted school ceilings in some vain attempt to try and glean some knowledge as to where he was. Unfortunately for him, this took his eyes off the hall before him, and a few moments later, the sound of rubber squeaking against tile flooring could be heard growing louder and louder, until it caught Jaune's attention, but a moment too late. Something crashed into him and knocked him to the ground, a flash of white and yellow obscuring his vision momentarily.

"S-sorry dude!" a male voice shouted out, punctuated by the sound of a metal lid slamming down onto a nearby garbage pail. Jaune groaned and got to his feet, rubbing his rear.

"The hell?" Jaune muttered, turning around to see a nearby metal garbage can, the lid barely open enough for someone to peak out of it. "Did...did you just hide in the trash can?"

"Dude, don't talk to me! The teacher will find me and skin me alive!" The mysterious assailant whispered theatrically.

As if on cue, a deep male voice sounded out from further down the hall and around the corner. "Blasted beast! It's bad enough this school lets those feral wretches into our hollowed halls, but the thieving bastards can't keep their paws off my things!" A large, fat man stomped into view before rounding on Jaune, his beady black eyes wide and bloodshot. "You! Boy! Have you seen one of those disguised animals run through here with all the copies of my syllabus!?"

Jaune froze. Behind him, he swore he could hear the sound of the person in the trash can shifting uncomfortably. "Um...what?"

"A Faunus, boy! A Faunus! Have you see one of those foul wretches run past here?!" The massive teacher grabbed him by the shoulders, shaking him slightly, his jowls wiggling in his rage.

On one hand, someone stealing something _was_ bad. On the other hand, Jaune was an Arc, and they were always supportive of their Faunus allies. Further more, this teacher was really rubbing Jaune the wrong way, so Jaune swallowed and steeled himself, staring up at the teacher. "Yes sir, I did see him."

The large teacher almost excitedly jumped in place with an eager malevolence. "Where is he, boy!?"

Jaune pointed further down the hallway. "He went down that way!" The teacher laughed victoriously and stomped off down the hallway, muttering more racist phrases in pursuit of his prey. A few minutes passed, and Jaune waited with baited breath to see if the teacher would come back in the other direction, but after a while, it appeared as though he was gone. "Psst!" Jaune whispered over his shoulder. "He's gone! You can come out now!"

"Dude thanks!" A boy's voice shouted from the trash can, and the lid was flung violently off of it to the tile below. From within the metal can stepped another blond boy with a wide open vest, a stack of papers in his hands, and a long tail swaying behind him. "I couldn't help but take his syllabus, since from the moment he saw me, all he was shouting at me were anti-Faunus stuff. Good to know you're cool with us and all tho'."

"Erm...right. I'm Jaune Arc. You are…?" Jaune extended a hand nervously.

"Me? I'm Sun Wukong! Hey, you wanna help me out with something?"

"With what?"

"I got this great prank to pull on him. We'll paste these all over campus with stuff written on them making fun of the professor! How 'bout it?" Sun flashed Jaune a brilliant and mischievous smile.

"I dunno...I mean, he is a jerk, but pasting stuff like that all over campus?" Jaune nervously replied.

Sun's face fell. "Aw, come on man, this guy is a jerk! I didn't even do anything originally; he just started off insulting me and stuff!" He slumped forward, resting his head against the metal lockers lining the hallway.

Jaune stared at the now dejected monkey Faunus and nervously scratched the back of his head. "Don't you have anyone else who could help? I mean, I'm not really the best at that sort of thing. Heck, I'm not even really sure I'll be that good at being a Hunter..."

Sun shook his head and gave a weak smile. "Nah. Just got here myself and don't really know anyone. I'm sorry to have bothered man. Good luck with...all this." The Faunus boy turned away and began to wander away and Jaune couldn't help but feel bad. Sure, he'd made a friend already in that one girl from earlier, but this guy was probably having difficulty finding friends, especially with him being a Faunus.

Jaune took a breath and spoke up. "Do you even have a plan?"

Sun stopped and looked over his shoulder. "Huh? What do you mean, 'plan?'"

"How were you planning on posting all of those syllabus up all over the school without getting caught? Do you know where you're planning on putting them so people can see them? What are you putting on them?" Jaune listed off.

Sun chuckled nervously. "Erm...I was just gonna wing it?"

Jaune sighed theatrically. "If I left you to your own devices, you'll probably end up in detention for the rest of history. Let's head to the auditorium first, and then after that we can sit down and start working on the details of this prank. Sound good?"

Sun perked up almost immediately. "Wait, so you'll help?"

"Sure. I'll expect you to follow my lead though, got it? You can't do something like this without having a plan of action." Jaune answered faux-seriously. He smiled as he watched the Faunus excitedly rush forward and throw an arm around his shoulders in good nature.

"You got it, buddy! You lead the way, and I'll follow!" Sun proclaimed.

"First things first, we'll need to find at least one other person to join in on this if we're going to pull this off without getting in trouble..." Jaune began as the two made their way down the hallway once again…

 **[Present Day]**

Jaune continued walking through the forest casually, smiling to himself as he reminisced about his past. However, his smile faltered when he heard the sounds of combat nearby, and realized that he had to hurry once more, taking off in a full run. The sounds grew louder and louder as Jaune rushed through the undergrowth, dodging tree branches and jumping over low roots. He unsheathed the blade at his hip and slashed through a curtain of ivy to reveal…

A massive black Grimm scorpion attacking Pyrrha, Ren and Nora, while Ruby, a grounded Weiss, Yang and Blake were desperately dodging a hail of razor sharp black feathers being rained down from above. Jaune froze and groaned to himself, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Of course this is happening...why not?" With a grimace and a tightening of his fist around the hilt of his sword, Jaune ran forward to meet his partner, already wondering how the day could get any worse…

 _ **Author's Note: Um...Yeah. It's been a while. My profile can probably tell you more, but long story short, life's been punching me in the metaphorical face. With any luck though, things will get straightened out shortly, and I'll keep trying to keep things updated. Look forward to a new Immortal coming up next, followed by Moonlit Sonata.**_


	7. Fresh New Minty Beta Reader Taste

_I do not own RWBY. Spook does, though._

* * *

 **Unwinnable**

 **Chapter 7: With New Minty Fresh Beta Reader Taste!**

* * *

"Jaune?" Pyrrha murmured as she watched her partner approach the battle from the corner of her eye. "Where have you been?"

Jaune froze in mid stride, keeping an eye on the Deathstalker while his mind attempted to come up with some form or another of explanation for his absence. "Erm…" _If I say that I was too busy reminiscing, I'm bound to lose face!_ "Well, you see-"

Time froze. Colors changed to grayscale and Jaune could only slap his forehead with the palm of his hand with a groan. "Are you kidding me? This is Vacuo all over again! You're working overtime...Fine. What is it this time?" A gray translucent window appeared out of nowhere before him, its familiar four choices upon it.

 **A.) Sorry, I got caught up in old memories.**

 **B.) I was behind you the entire time!...watching that booty.**

 **C.) Does it matter? Eyes on the damn Grimm!**

 **D.) I got accosted by a couple of Grimm on the way here.**

Jaune stroked his chin in thought. "Well, last thing I want is to be rude to Pyrrha, especially with the given situation, so let's scratch C off of the list. I'm not even going to _think_ about option B. Do I tell the truth? Or do I come up with a lie?" It was true that an Arc never went back on his word, but it was never stated that they didn't lie, either. Admitting he'd been lost in his memories during such an important event would probably lower Pyrrha's interest further than he'd like. No, better to play it safe. A little white lie wouldn't hurt any, would it? Besides, it wasn't like he hadn't killed Grimm by himself before. Not often mind, but he'd done it.

With a wry grimace, Jaune reached forward and pressed on Option D, and like usual, the grayscale changed to color and the world around him began to move once more, as if time had never stopped in the first place. His body began to move of its own accord, his Semblance once again taking control. "Sorry 'bout that, I got blindsided by a couple of Ursa Major on my way here." _Ursa Major?! Hell, I can barely take on one normal one by myself, let alone two Majors!_

Pyrrha gasped, turning to him with a look of worry. "Are you okay?! I'm sorry, I left you behind! Are you hurt? How is your Aura?" The crimson haired Spartan began to look him over, her emerald gaze occasionally flickering over to the scorpion, which was engaged in a fight against Nora and Ren. Jaune quickly brushed her hands off, his Semblance relinquishing control.

"I'm fine, I'm fine! We've got bigger things to worry about!" Jaune quickly brought her attention back to the scorpion Grimm, his own mind beginning to race. _Crap! I've never fought a Deathstalker before! Weaknesses...hell, this is a nightmare of a pop quiz!_ The blond watched as Ren nimbly sidestepped the creature's sudden charge, only to realize that it was gunning right for him! With a cry of surprise, Jaune leapt to the side, the creature's pincers just barely missing him. "Crap! Anyone ever kill a Deathstalker before?"

"I have!" Nora singsonged excitedly, waving her hand while her other gripped the handle of her hammer.

"Nora, that was a dream. You can't kill Deathstalkers by singing bad pop songs at them." Ren replied, his tone surprisingly calm for the situation.

Jaune groaned and turned to his partner, who could only offer him a sheepish shrug and a hand to help him up. "You too? Great. We're gonna have to play this one by ear. We need some space…" Jaune looked around, his brain working overtime. _No, the forest could get us trapped and would lower our visibility. Not to mention we don't need MORE Grimm encroaching on this. The ruins? No, Ruby and the others are too busy trying to fight off that giant Bird for us to be underfoot..._ Jaune's eyes lit up and he snapped his fingers with a grin. "Pyrrha! Ren! Nora! To the cliffside!"

The aforementioned trio exchanged looks, but shrugged and followed the blond, with the Deathstalker close behind. As they ran, trying hard to keep ahead of the Grimm, Jaune began muttering to himself. "...nail...sword...carapace…" He frowned. "Damn it all! I wish I payed more attention in Weapons class!"

"What's wrong, Jaune?" Pyrrha asked, feeling slightly nervous about her partner's sudden ill mood. Well, more ill than currently being chased down by arachnoid death, that was.

"I have a plan, but…" He trailed off, brow furrowing.

"But what?"

"I'm not sure how much punishment Crocea Mors can take…" Jaune finished.

"Your sword?" Jaune nodded affirmatively. Pyrrha quickly stopped in mid run and fired a shot at the creature's mask, causing it to raise up its claws to block the shot, but forcing it to stop following them, giving them a bit of distance. "What's it made of?"

"Vosnium...I think." Jaune answered, Pyrrha keeping pace with him. Ren and Nora had managed to take the lead, with the cliffside approaching quickly.

Pyrrha frowned. "Jaune, Vosnium is used in infusions for high-class weaponry. Your weapon has to be a compound of some sort. Titanium and Vosnium, perhaps?"

Jaune shook his head. "Erm...no. My old man just said the blade and the shield were made of Vosnium."

"Jaune?" Pyrrha murmured, emerald eyes widening.

"What?"

"Pure Vosnium is incredibly rare. It's the best physical conductor and container of Aura out there, and is virtually indestructible...you could have an Atlasian Paladin step all over it, and it wouldn't put a dent into it! Have you...ever had to sharpen the blade? Or fix the shield?"

Jaune began to open his mouth, then slowly closed it as the realization dawned on him that he'd never performed a day of weapon upkeep in his entire life. "Now that you mention it…"

Pyrrha just shook her head in shock. "Jaune? There isn't a thing you, I, nor the Deathstalker could do to Crocea Mors that would damage it."

Jaune nodded and grinned. "Then this thing is as good as dead." Blond and redhead came to a halt as they found themselves at the cliffside wall, the sheer stone face reaching up many stories above them. Jaune glanced over his shoulder, and with satisfaction noticed that the Deathstalker was still down the path a ways, giving him just enough time. He turned back around to the expectant faces of the other Huntsmen before him. "Alright everyone, we've got one shot at this, so let's give this all we got! I'm going to try and get onto the Deathstalker's back to wedge Crocea Mors between its carapace plates. When I finish that and give the signal, Pyrrha? I need you to help launch Nora as high as you can. Can you do that?"

Pyrrha and Nora exchanged glances, with Nora looking eager and excited. "I...yes...I can. But-" The Spartan started, looking uneasy.

Jaune turned away from her, nodding and interrupting her. "Good. Ren? When Pyrrha launches Nora, I need you to start firing at the creature's eyes. Don't worry if your shots are blocked, just unload on that thing for as long as you can. And Nora?"

"Yes, O fearless leader?!" Nora shouted excitedly.

Jaune grimaced. "I'm not...never mind. Just hammer it home."

The bundle of energy that was the ginger haired girl saluted. "You got it!"

Pyrrha shook her head and grabbed ahold of Jaune's shoulder, her eyes filled with worry. "Jaune, I can't agree to this plan."

Jaune blinked in exasperation. "What? What do you mean you can't agree to this?! I don't really have any other ideas!"

"Jaune, you could get hurt! I don't want to lose yo- _my partner_ so quickly! There must be some other way! I-I could do that!" Pyrrha offered, her expression completely betraying her own inner emotions.

Jaune couldn't help but smile softly and he placed his hands on Pyrrha's shoulders, not noticing the small shudder she gave on contact.

 **[Pyrrha Nikos' Interest has increased!]**

Jaune ignored the message that popped up and spoke, "Pyrrha? Sometimes you've got to take a big risk in life if you want to get ahead. I'll be fine, promise. And an Arc never goes back on his word." Jaune let go of her, and turned around. To Pyrrha, it was a gesture of bravery and courage. To Jaune, he was simply glad Pyrrha couldn't see the grimace of terror across his features. He also happened to miss the dreamy look that crossed her face shortly after his family motto, although he didn't miss the new message that popped up before him.

 **[Pyrrha Nikos' interest has sharply increased!]**

 **[Pyrrha Nikos now has a crush on you!]**

Jaune gave a small smile to himself and sighed. If he could survive today, he had something to look forward to. He watched, trepidation mounting as the creature rushed closer and closer, his hands gripping the hilt of his blade in a white knuckled grip. _You know, Semblance, if there was any time you could start a mini-game to save my ass, now would be the best time…_ He waited, but nothing, just the creature approaching them, kicking up dirt as it tore down the path with the intent on slaughtering the Huntsmen-in-training. Still, nothing.

 _Of course_. Jaune rolled his eyes to no one in particular before getting into a stance. The creature approached closer and closer, and he could hear Nora making a nervous noise. Part of him wanted to turn around and ask her to stop, but taking his eyes off of the Deathstalker for even a moment could spell his demise. _How much Aura do I have left?_ Taking a second to take his eyes off the scorpion Grimm, Jaune quickly opened his Scroll and frowned. _Crap. Only half. I can't take much more punishment…_

The moment of truth; the Deathstalker was almost upon him. Jaune took a breath and rushed forward, sapphire eyes flickering back and forth as he analyzed the situation. A quick side step dodged a claw, then another dash to the opposite to dodge its twin and Jaune couldn't help but smile. _Maybe I don't need my Semblance to help me with this after-_ It was at that point that his thoughts, and movements, were so rudely interrupted by a large stinger tail the size of a tree trunk slamming into the blond Huntsman-in-training's midsection, launching him backwards amidst a chorus of concerned cries from his allies.

Jaune's body hit the cliffside wall, forcing the air from his lungs and leaving him twitching upon the ground below. " _Jaune!_ " He could hear Pyrrha's cry of panic, and the sound of gunfire roaring as the creature squealed. Evidently something got hit, something painful.

 _Okay, that was really sad. Let's not do that again, shall we?_ Jaune groaned and slowly raised a hand from his prone position. "I'm...okay…" He managed to mutter, trying to push himself up. It was a struggle against gravity, but in the end, sheer tenacity managed to bring him to his feet, albeit swaying in place. He shook his head, trying to take stock of what was going on. Pyrrha had apparently been shooting at the Deathstalker, and the giant arachnoid was currently advancing on the Spartan. Jaune's eyes narrowed and despite the ache everywhere on his body, he advanced, gaze steely.

The Grimm, so distracted by the new morsel that had dared to actually fire upon one of its many eyes and actually harm it, didn't even see the little blond creature until it was already upon its back in its blind spot. It barely registered its presence, caring more to rip apart the thing that actually caused it pain. Jaune on the other hand, smiled at his good fortune, and found a nice spot to nest Crocea Mors. With a heave and a channeling of his Aura, he shoved the blade as hard as he could into a spot between two heaving, midnight black chitin plates. The creature gave a squeal as it felt the blade actually slide slightly into its soft flesh, its stinger tail sweeping across its back. Once again, Jaune found himself flying through the air, Pyrrha's terrified cry catching in his ears.

Luckily this time, he was far enough away, and the tail hadn't hit him quite as hard, so all he found himself doing was skidding across the ground, shaking him badly. As in pain as he was, he took a deep breath and cried out, " _Pyrrha! Now!_ "

Emerald eyes filled with concern steeled themselves and locked gazes with excited turquoise ones. Both girls nodded and Nora jumped into the air, just high enough to land upon Akouo. With a mighty heave and judicious use of Aura, Pyrrha launched the ginger hair girl into the sky, high enough to leave her obscured by the light of the sun. No sooner had she done that, then the repeated sounds of machine pistol fire alerted her to Ren's contribution. The raven-haired boy unloaded his pistols right at the creature's face, forcing it to remain still as it blinded itself trying to protect its eyes with its massive claws.

Because of this, the creature was caught unaware as Nora fell from the heavens, whooping excitedly as she plummeted, driving her hammer directly onto the pommel of Crocea Mors' blade. There was a sound of metal ringing as the blade was slammed clean through the Deathstalker's carapace, leaving it thrashing and squealing in agony. Nora bounced back, deftly avoiding the Grimm's death throes. The excitable Huntress-in-training jumped next to her green-clothed friend and raised her hand, the young man giving a demure smile and softly high-fiving his friend.

Pyrrha on the other hand had rushed to Jaune's side in an instant. "Jaune! Are you okay! Speak to me!"

Jaune grimaced, trying to pick himself up again. Pyrrha tenderly helped him up, frowning deeply. "S-see...t-told you I'd be okay…" Jaune managed to sputter out, wincing as he took a tentative step forward, supported by his partner.

Pyrrha gave a sigh of relief and exasperation. "Jaune, that was foolhardy and reckless! Promise me you won't do something like that again! You scared me half to death!"

Jaune gave a sheepish grin, or at least a facsimile of one. "Sorry...next time...I'll c-consult with you before I…" he winced and stumbled, Pyrrha keeping him steady. "...before I try anyt-thing like that…" _Shit, everything hurts...what's my Aura at?_ He reached into his pocket and opened up his Scroll again. "Two percent…"

Pyrrha's arms seemed to wrap around him more, although it could have been her simply trying to help keep him up. However, he felt someone else grab his other arm and hoist it up over their shoulders, and he turned to see the black-haired, pink-eyed young man who'd aided them helping him up as well. "As impressed as I am with your quick thinking and bravery, you'd do well with a bit of caution."

Jaune laughed weakly. "I got it, I got it. Ren, thanks for the help. Couldn't have done it without you and Nora."

As if on cue, the ginger girl bounced into view, bending over and pointing her finger at Jaune. "Ya gotta be more careful!" Nora chastised Jaune who hung his head with a half-laugh, half groan. "Oh, I got your sword!"

"I got it, I got it! You don't need to all guilt trip me! It's worse than back home all over again!" Jaune cried out playfully, earning a laugh from the three other Huntsmen. "And thanks, Nora. Put it on my hip for me? I'm kinda...well, wounded." His head perked up however when a thought came to mind. "Wait...what about the Nevermore?!" Jaune's gaze twisted around over Pyrrha's shoulder, only to see the massive bird pinned to the cliffside, being dragged up the side of it by...something.

"What on Remnant…?" Pyrrha murmured, she, Ren and Nora having also stopped to witness what was happening. The large bird was being dragged up the side of the cliff until...Jaune's eyes widened as he watched Ruby Rose, with grace, dexterity and strength beyond her years, decapitated the Nevermore, her figure floating in the air, almost frozen. Jaune's face broke out into a grin.

"Okay, points for style," Jaune murmured, "But we still killed ours first."

Pyrrha chuckled while Nora cheered in agreement, Ren quietly smiling and shaking his head, and with that, the four Huntsmen made their way slowly toward the other group, chatting amicably the way there.

* * *

 **[Emerald Forest - Ruins]**

By the time that Jaune and Pyrrha noticed Ruby and the rest approaching them, looking as triumphant as they felt, Jaune had the strength to at least walk on his own again, although he was still doing his best not to jostle himself any more than he had to. Luckily, no Grimm had approached them on the way there, as if they'd been terrified of seeing their larger brethren so easily killed. Ruby bounced up, silver eyes shining excitedly. "So you guys won too, right?"

Jaune smiled and nodded. "I took a few more bruises than I'd like, but I think we all did pretty good."

Yang approached her sister, putting her into a headlock much to her dismay and giving her an affectionate noogie. "Rubes here really pulled us through!"

Weiss gave a huff, closing her eyes and shrugging. "I guess my partner isn't a total loss."

Ruby frowned. "Thanks, Weiss." She muttered sarcastically as she freed herself from her elder sister's grip.

Pyrrha smiled softly. "Jaune was the one who came up with the idea to kill the Deathstalker. Then again, from what you've told me Jaune, this isn't the first time you've been in the leader position."

Jaune laughed nervously, scratching the back of his neck. "Y-yeah. Still, you guys were really the ones who did the heavy lifting."

Ruby's ill mood was quickly forgotten and she jumped up. "Really? I bet you guys were awesome! Did you see us?!"

"Certainly saw _you,_ Ruby. Awesome moves back there." Jaune grinned, reaching forward to ruffle Ruby's hair. The young girl's smile only grew under Jaune's hand, looking quite proud of herself. The young Huntsman turned to the rest of the group, nothing Yang's uncharacteristically warm and almost motherly smile, and smirked. "I don't know about you guys," he started, "but I think I'd like to get back to the school before nightfall. All this kicking ass has got me hungry."

A chorus of agreement reached his ears, and Nora's voice quickly overshadowed them all. "Ooh, ooh! Renny-bear can make us pancakes!"

"...I suppose."

"Yay!"

* * *

 _ **A/N: There you go, the next chapter of Unwinnable, hot on the heels of a new Immortal chapter! Why? 'Cause I love you guys! (Also, I got on one hell of a roll when it came to writing and finished over half this chapter in a single day at the expense of sleep. When the writing bug hits, you don't tell it no!) This chapter is brought to you by, and beta-read by The Spookiest of Noodles! Thanks to him, I was able to come up with some inspiration for future chapters to sort of help bridge some gaps in my plot ideas. Hopefully this collaboration will be well received by all you lovely fans, and I hope to keep you all entertained!**_

 _ **Oh, and real quick, if you folks are interested, I'd like to see if someone would be nice enough to draw me up a cover art for Unwinnable! Shoot me a PM if you're interested, and we can talk details there. Signing off for now, Laughing Lefou.**_

* * *

 _ **B/N: First ISA and now Lefou? Jesus, Spook, you're ingratiating yourself into all sorts of high circles. So yeah: I'm currently beta-ing for Unwinnable, Moonlight Sonata, and Between the Lines, in addition to my own writing. That, and trying to get some voice-work done. Fair warning: my main goal is to get Jaune as many kinds of laid as I can, and Lefou is to make sure he only ends up with Pyrrha, so I guess he represents Jaune, and I represent...well... everyone else. :P**_


	8. Integrity?

_I do not own RWBY_

 **Unwinnable**

 **Chapter 8: Integrity? What Kind Of An Author Do You Think I Am?**

* * *

The walk back was, thankfully, a calm one. It was as though the defeat of the two massive Grimm had terrified all of their comrades, which allowed everyone to jovially chat with one another. Jaune and Ruby had been chatting back and forth about the battle, Ruby regaling him with a slightly over-exaggerated version of their fight versus the Giant Nevermore. "...And then Yang punched it so hard, that the creature couldn't fly right, scrambling it's brains!"

"She was barely effective." Weiss muttered from behind the two. Jaune frowned, but deigned to respond, instead fixing Ruby with a smile.

"That's awesome. Sounds a lot more stylish than how we killed ours. I just got smacked around a while and then I had Nora use Crocea Mors like a giant nail." Jaune scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

Pyrrha suddenly appeared next to Jaune, smiling warmly. "Jaune, you're not giving yourself enough credit. You did wonderful! Your plan worked flawlessly...well, almost flawlessly."

"True, but did you hear what Ruby here came up with? I mean that slingshot maneuver you had Blake do sounded absolutely genius!" Jaune exclaimed, reaching to rub Ruby's head. The smaller girl practically glowed under his touch, smiling from ear to ear. She even pushed her head up against his hand like an affectionate puppy receiving attention. After a few moments, however, her eyes shot open and she suddenly recoiled, her face going as red as her hood, which was promptly pulled over her head. Jaune missed the distressed glance that his own red-haired partner affixed his action with.

"T-t-thank you…" Ruby murmured, turning away from Jaune, stammering nervously.

 **[Ruby Rose's interest has increased!]**

Jaune gave a small, but rueful chuckle when he saw the new message pop up before his very eyes.. "Sorry Rubes. You just reminded me of my younger sisters, and I'm used to doing that to them. I won't do it again."

Ruby's gaze quickly shot up to his from under her hood. "N-no! It's fine, really! I-I...just wasn't prepared is all."

"How about I warn you next time?"

Ruby smiled. "Sure!"

 **[Yang Xiao Long's interest has increased!]**

Jaune froze in surprise as the new message popped up, causing him to cock an eye in confusion. _Wait, why on earth did Yang's interest-_ His train of thought was suddenly and violently derailed when the young Huntsman-in-training found himself in a headlock, courtesy of the buxom blonde brawler herself. "Wha-hey! Yang! Leggo!"

"What?" Yang playfully responded. "I just wanted to have a little chat with you Vomit Boy."

Jaune blinked, trying to look up at Yang, but really only getting an eyeful of her sizable chest. "Look, if it's about Ruby, I told her I was sorry, it was just a habit."

"Hm? Oh, come on Vomit Boy, I'm not upset about that. Actually, I kinda wanted to thank you. Ruby's always had trouble making friends, and it's nice to see someone so nice sticking by her. So you're all good in my book." Yang explained, releasing her grip just a hair.

Jaune tried pulling away, unable to see Yang's expression as she grinned down at him. "You don't...have to thank...me!" Eventually he gave up and hung from Yang's headlock with a sigh. "Ruby is good people. I'm happy to have her as a friend."

"Awww, you're just so sweet!" Yang mockingly teased.

Jaune blew a raspberry in irritation. " _Veeeeery_ funny." He fell silent for a moment, then, "I also got to admit, you seem like a pretty great big sister."

Yang was visibly taken aback, not that Jaune could see. Her expression softened and she smiled down at the back of Jaune's head. "Come on, Vomit Boy, now you're just flattering me."

"Am not. I've got seven sisters, I should know." Jaune retorted, once again trying to free himself from Yang's grasp. Much to his surprise, her grip completely loosened and Jaune stumbled forward. He managed to catch himself before falling and turned around to see Yang with a much softer smile on her face, actually causing his breath to catch in his throat. It was an incredibly beautiful smile and he was struck speechless for a few moments.

"That...that means a lot, Jaune. Thanks." Yang responded.

Jaune cleared his throat nervously. "Ahem. R-right. Don't mention it."

"You know, it's kind of funny…" she began, looking up into the forest canopy, the sunlight shining through, throwing light all over her golden locks.

"What is?"

"Well...I've kinda mostly been the one who raised Ruby. I don't really want to get into details, but Ruby's always been the most important person to me in my life. I'm happy to see her finally breaking out of her shell and making friends, but I'm also worried for her. I mean, she's here two years early, and I keep wondering if that's a good decision. Not that I'm not saying she isn't skilled enough, it's just that…" Yang trailed off, her expression falling into a look that seemed to say that even she wasn't sure what she was trying to get at. Her internal musing was interrupted by the sound of Jaune warmly chuckling. "Hey! I'm being serious here!" Yang growled, glaring at Jaune.

Her fellow blond waved his hands before his face disarmingly. "I'm not making fun of you Yang. It's just...well...not only are you a great big sister, but I think you'd make a great mother as well."

For one of the few times in her life, Yang was taken aback, and her cheeks took on a reddish hue that they so rarely displayed, her lilac gaze widening in shock. "W-w-what?!"

"Well, you said you raised Ruby. Ruby is a sweet, well meaning girl. Anyone who met her could tell she was raised well. So, by that reasoning, you're gonna be a great mom." Jaune explained, smiling back at Yang. He paused when finishing, then added with a rueful grin, "Assuming you want to actually have kids at some point."

Jaune was met with a long silence, watching as Yang blinked in shock at Jaune's admittance. Then, slowly, she smiled once more, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear with a soft blush across her cheeks. Once again, Jaune found himself struck speechless at the gorgeous girl's warm smile. "Arc, that might be the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were trying to flirt with me."

"W-what?!" Jaune panicked, eyes widening. "No! No, no, no, no, it was just a compliment!"

Yang's blush vanished and she narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you saying I'm not good enough to flirt with?"

"What? No!"

"So you are flirting?"

"Yes-no-gah!" Jaune screamed, clutching his head. His panic was broken at the sound of Yang's laughter.

"Oh, calm down Vomit Boy." Yang replied, walking forward. "I'm just teasing you. Seriously though, you're good people too." The blond actually hugged her male companion, who returned the gesture after a few moments of registering the gesture.

 **[Yang Xiao Long's interest has sharply increased!]**

 **[You are now Best Friends with Yang Xiao Long!]**

Before Jaune could say another word, the sound of a clearing throat behind him alerted him to another person's presence. Yang released him and tilted her head, looking over his shoulder. "What's up, P-money?"

Pyrrha gave a strange look for a brief moment. "I-I was just seeing why you two had fallen behind…"

"Jealous, P-money?"

"What-no! I-I was just, I mean-" Pyrrha stammered nervously.

"Ignore her, Pyrrha." Jaune murmured, rolling his eyes. "Sorry, we just got caught up in conversation about family."

"Oh?" Pyrrha turned her attention to her partner. "Could I...I mean, would you tell me about your…"

Jaune chuckled. "Sure. Let's head back, I'll give you the skinny along the way. As you know, I'm from the Arc family, and everyone always seems surprised since we've got such a big family…" Jaune's voice trailed off as he and Pyrrha walked ahead, Yang staying behind. The buxom blond smiled softly to herself, shaking her head.

"Wait a minute…" Yang murmured, "Where the hell is _my_ partner?"

A voice from the treetops caused Yang to jump in surprise as said partner responded back, "Waiting for you two to finish having your moment."

"We were _not_ 'having a moment!'" Yang shouted, catching her partner's nimble form amidst the branches above.

"Great. I hope you're not going to be this touchy feely with me then." Blake murmured with a teasing edge to her voice.

"Oh, that's it. Just for that, I'm hugging you extra!"

"What? Hey, stay back! Yang! No!"

* * *

 **[Later…]**

"...And of course, that's when I told Cerise that it would either be short hair, or we were going to have to shove her head into the nitrogen bath."

Pyrrha laughed melodiously at Jaune's tale, covering her mouth with her hand. "I can only imagine how upset that must have made her!"

"She got pissy at first, but it was really Lily's fault that the gum got in her hair in the first place." Jaune finished. The two of them had been pretty much uninterrupted the entire way back. Jaune had regaled Pyrrha about tales of his childhood, letting her know about his family. She seemed quite fascinated by the information, absorbing it all like a sponge. Everyone else was either up ahead of them, or in the case of Yang and Blake, catching up. Eventually Yang and Blake passed them, Yang chasing her partner and threatening to, 'snuggle her.'

Eventually everyone found their way back to the cliffside, and it was the keen eyes of Ren who managed to find the incredibly steep stone staircase that lead up it. It was more a ladder than anything. "So…" Jaune began. "Who goes first?"

"Ooh! Me! Me! I'm the Queen of climbing stuff!" Nora excitedly proclaimed before rushing off to go climb the stone ladder. Ren just sighed and shrugged, as if to ask, 'what can you do?' He followed close behind her, making sure to help her up when she stumbled upon a particularly loose piece of stone. Jaune turned to his own partner and motioned forward.

"Ladies first?"

Pyrrha smiled. "Thank you Jaune." The spartan moved forward to start climbing up, reaching for some stone outcropping to begin.

"Need a boost up, Pyrrha?" Jaune offered, kneeling down to help lift her up.

The young woman began to negate the offer, but stopped. "Actually...yes, if you wouldn't mind?"

Jaune smiled and used his hands to help give her a boost, lifting her up. Pyrrha smiled down at him as he did so, and once lifted, she began her climb. "Thank you, Jaune."

"Don't mention it." He grinned, but didn't look up. Tempting though it was, he knew it would look bad in the eyes of everyone if he decided to grab an upskirt peek. Instead, the blond boy turned to the other girls and tilted his head. "Rubes, you need a hoist up?"

"Uh-huh!" Ruby replied and ran at Jaune, who knelt down, and once Ruby's boot touched down on his hands, he heaved and with proper application of Aura, launched her into the air, helping her catch a higher 'rung' on the stone ladder. "Woo! Thanks Jaune!"

"Yang? Blake? W-" Jaune's comment was interrupted when the world suddenly shifted to monochrome, and he groaned. "What now?!"

Another window opened up before him, although this one didn't have the choices as most did, causing him to scratch his head in confusion. "Huh. Odd…" He leaned forward and began to read.

 **[Tsundere]**

 **Weiss is an example of a 'Tsundere' type! To properly capture her heart, caution must be exercised! A Tsundere's pride is their most prized trait, and any wounds inflicted upon it, either intentional or unintentional will sharply lower interest! As a word of advice, offering help might be seen as believing her to be weak, or incapable of performing the action…**

Jaune blinked. "Tsundere...what? Okay, I suppose that's good to know. If I need to lower her interest, I'll just offer to help with her homework. Then again, I suppose since we aren't even really friends yet, it might be in my best interests not to help her up here. I mean, she seems a bit stuck up, but who knows? She might make a good friend."

The colors of the world washed back into normalcy, and Jaune found himself silent. Yang walked up and grinned at him. "Getting kinda handsy, aren't we, Vomit Boy?"

With a huff and a roll of his eyes, Jaune's response was a muttered, "See if I ever do anything nice for _you_ again."

Yang stuck out her tongue. "Don't be like that! What about that special moment we shared back in the forest?"

" _Special moment?!_ " Pyrrha's voice could be heard from much further up the cliff, causing Jaune to blink in confusion.

 _How the hell did she hear..._ He shook his head and shouted back up (making sure not to look up lest he get an eyeful of upskirts), "Ignore her! Yang's just being Yang!"

"Oh god, you're starting to sound like Ruby…" Yang huffed.

" _Yang! Stop being Yang!_ " Ruby shouted down, seconds later, earning a smirk from Jaune.

Said older sister rolled her eyes and put her arms akimbo. " _Veeeery_ funny. You gonna help me up or what?"

Jaune sighed in mock resignation. " _Fiiiiiine_." He smiled, making sure to let Yang he was only joking, earning a grin in return. With a grunt of effort and even more application of Aura, he proceeded to help Yang with a boost to her jump. She landed, gripping the rock wall and began her own ascent up the stone ladder. By that point, Pyrrha had made it up all the way and was helping Ruby up. Jaune stood up and cracked his neck, turning to Blake. "Need a hand?"

Blake smiled and shook her head. "No, but thanks for offering. I can get it from here." She then proceeded to walk past Jaune and started climbing up, her figure quickly scaling the sheer rock wall with almost unnatural grace and agility.

Jaune nodded, and at last turned to Weiss. "I'd offer to help, but how you're looking at things, I'm certain you've got this."

Weiss gave a self-assured smirk. "Of course. Something like this is nothing." With a wave of Myrtenaster, a series of white glyphs appeared in mid air, and with nimble movements, Weiss began to leap from one to the other, using the boosts from them to very quickly make her way up the side of the cliff. Jaune leaned against the side of the wall, and kept an eye out for any potential approaching Grimm. One hand rested gently on the hilt of Crocea Mors and he began to whistle tunelessly.

" _Jaune? Are you coming up?_ " Pyrrha's voice shouted down.

"Is everyone else already up?" Jaune shouted back, praying that no Grimm would show up at the last second for a Jaune sandwich.

" _Why would that affect you climbing-_ " Pyrrha began, then stopped. Silence fell over the cliffside.

 **[Pyrrha Nikos' interest has increased!]**

 **[Yang Xiao Long's interest has increased!]**

 **[Blake Belladona's interest has increased!]**

 **[Ruby Rose's interest has increased!]**

 **[Weiss Schnee's interest has sharply increased!]**

 **[You are now friends with Weiss Schnee!]**

Jaune smirked to himself at the sudden rush of windows popping up before him. "Yeah! So, is everyone up already!"

"Indeed!" Weiss' voice yelled down. "You're free to join us, Jaune!"

With a sigh, Jaune turned around and gazed up the cliffside. "This...this is not going to be fun…"

* * *

 **[Sometime later…]**

"Ow…" Jaune's hand managed to grasp the very top of the cliffside. It had been a slow slog up the cliff, and even with being able to recover a good portion of his Aura from the relatively casual walk back, the climb had brought it back down again to its post Deathstalker state. He tried to pull himself up, only for his grasp to slip, and his eyes bulged out of his head as he began to fall backwards. He didn't get very far though, before his partner's face flashed into view and she grasped his hand, affixing him with a soft smile. Jaune let out a breath of relief. "Thanks Pyrrha, I owe you one."

She shook her head. "Nonsense. It's what partners are for, right?"

Jaune smiled and Pyrrha helped him up to the top of the cliff. Standing a few feet behind her was Ozpin, smiling slightly at Jaune. "And with you finally joining us, Mr. Arc, the Initiation is now complete."

"Wait," Jaune started, his face blanching, "I don't fail for being last, do I?"

"Did you get a relic?" Ozpin queried.

Jaune reached into his hoodie and pulled out the rook that Pyrrha had given him. "Yep!"

"Then pass, you did. By the way, excellent work on the Deathstalker. I can see that Oswald's glowing recommendation of yours wasn't all talk." Ozpin continued.

Scratching the back of his head nervously, Jaune gave a sheepish smile. "T-thanks, sir."

"Now, I believe it's time for us to get back onto the Bullhead and go back to Beacon. We have some teams to announce." With that, Ozpin proceeded to walk off, cane in one hand and coffee in the other.

"Right...the Bullhead…" Jaune grimaced. "As a word of warning, Pyrrha, you might not want to sit next to me on the ride back...flying and I do not agree with one another." Pyrrha remained silent, but sympathetically rubbed his back, and the two of them proceeded to follow the Headmaster…

* * *

 **A/N: Whelp, another chapter down! Sorry this one was a bit late, but I was distracted by things like work, video games (I got a new GPU, yay!) and my own stupid OC ideas. Oh and Neo diddling. Can't forget that. Anywho, hope this will tide you over, and with any luck, the next chapter won't take so long. Next chapter is going to be interesting, as you'll finally get to see a part of the writing process that goes into Unwinnable! (Namely Spooky and I arguing about how far Jaune should go with his unwanted, but more than likely unavoidable harem…) Signing off for now, this is Mr. Jester himself, LaughingLefou.**

* * *

 **B/N: Orgies for everyone! Okay, probably not orgies...maybe a threesome at most. But yes, my stance and belief is that Jaune should end up sleeping with all of PRWBY, and Lefou and I regularly argue about that, sometimes teasingly, sometimes not.**

 **The Yang interaction in this chapter is Lefou's little gift to me, since he knows I love Icarus the best out out of the Jaune ships. There's a lot more fun stuff coming, so make sure to Follow and Favorite! See you all soon!**


	9. My Muse Has ADD

_I do not own RWBY_

 **Unwinnable**

 **Chapter 9: Have I Mentioned My Muse Has ADD?**

* * *

 **[?]**

The weather was perfect. With every step, he could feel the cool grass beneath his feet, and the babbling of a nearby brook filled his ears. The scene was, to put it simply, picturesque. Blue eyes follow the sparkling waters, the sunlight thrown off the water in every direction making the brook look like a long line of diamonds. His lips turned upwards and he took a deep breath of the fresh air. Then; he stopped. He tilted his head, another sound reaching his ears, barely audible over the sounds of the running waters nearby. Someone was...singing?

He trudged his way through the dream-like landscape, the breeze whistling through the grass, seemingly a backup to the beautiful vocals which grew louder with every step. Eventually he found himself at a glade, the sound of a woman's humming coming from within it. Moving forward, he descended into the glade slowly, until at last he stood within it, where a lone tree stood. Next to it sat a log, and upon it, a familiar figure sat, flame red hair flowing in the gentle breeze. She tucked a lock of it behind her ear, and continued humming.

His lips turn upward as he approaches her. The girl was wearing an extremely delightful schoolgirl outfit, black with a tartan skirt. He stood a few feet behind her, hands in his pockets. "Lovely tune. What do you call it?"

She turned around, emerald eyes sparkling and she smiled an enigmatic little smile. "Why don't you tell me, Jaune?"

Jaune cocked his head to the side, frowning. "What's that supposed to mean, Pyrrha?"

"Well, this _is_ your dream, Jaune." 'Pyrrha' replied softly.

"Wait, wait, what? I've never had a dream outright tell me it's a dream…" Jaune scratched his head as his expression morphed into one of further confusion. "So...you're not actually Pyrrha then?"

"Nope. I'm actually a manifestation of your Semblance."

Jaune's expression instantly and comedically deadpanned. "What."

"I've taken the form of Pyrrha as I've noticed you've been closest to her. I figured we could have a little chat, now that you're asleep."

"Huh." Jaune replied. He fell silent, his body shaking. Then, he began to laugh out loud, a _very_ disturbed sounding laugh. " _So, you're the bitch who's been ruining my life!_ " Jaune roared, pointing in accusation at 'Pyrrha.' Behind him, clouds began to darken and gather on the horizon.

'Pyrrha' cocked an eyebrow. "Ruining? I've been _helping_ you. If it wasn't for me, you would have never gotten together with Pyrrha in the first place."

One of Jaune's eyes twitched furiously. " _ **HELPING ME?!**_ Is that what you call that...that... _disaster_ back in Vacuo?"

"Which _wouldn't_ have become a disaster if you'd simply chosen a girl...or twenty!"

Jaune sputtered, his eye developing an even nastier twitch. "I am _not_ going to have _twenty god damn girlfriends_! That way lies madness! And death by snu-snu!"

'Pyrrha' huffed, blowing her flame red bangs upward and rolled her eyes. "Oh relax. You're an Arc. Having copious amounts of sex is like breathing for your bloodline. Your great-grandfather once made love to sixteen women in one single day and was fine for Hunting the next. Regardless, you need to stop fighting this! I'm only doing this for your benefit!"

"My benefit? My _benefit_?! I had to run for my life from ninety percent of the female population of Vacuo Preparatory School! Did it ever occur to you that I don't _want_ to have multiple girlfriends?!"

"And why not?! Any straight male would _kill_ to be in your position! What could _possibly_ be so important about your obsession with monogamy?!" She stood from where she'd been sitting, her face flushing.

Jaune's eye continued to twitch in a combination of irritation and indignation as he spoke up again, arms gesticulating wildly. "How about devotion? Or even having the time to spend with all of them? Have you ever thought about how difficult it would be to show the same kind of love and affection to two different women, much less _**twenty**_?!"

"People do it! All the time, in fact! Ever heard of a polyamorous relationship?! Love isn't a finite resource, Jaune; loving someone doesn't take away from someone else!" She was furious now, pacing up and down the glade, he white shirt bright in the sun- Wait... when had she taken off her jacket?

The blond male blinked as he followed 'Pyrrha' pacing back and forth. He shook his head, clearing it of cobwebs. Damnable Semblance, looking like his dream girl. "No, but _time_ is a finite resource! Wait, why am I arguing _that_ aspect when the moral issues are far bigger? Do you know how hard it is to find girls who are willing to share, much less with a bunch of other women?"

She interrupted- "But I've already taken care of all of that! I put so much effort into crafting the perfect options for you to use, to win their hearts _and_ ensure they're willing to share! You don't appreciate the effort I put into saving the world!" She turned to face him, striding up to him, and poking a hard finger into his chest.

Jaune glared up at his Semblance, blue eyes narrowed into near slits. "And _how the hell is getting me involved in this supposed to save the damn world?!_ "

As intense as her anger was, that only made it more surprising when she calmed. Instead of moving to sit on the log where he'd found her, she sat down where she was, the log somehow disappearing and reappearing beneath her. The way she was, her face was about level with Jaune's crotch, something she'd apparently realized, as she winked up at him.

"Do you have any idea how long mankind has been fighting the Grimm? Pretty much since there _was_ a mankind. People have been fighting, and dying, since before we knew what dust was, aura, robotics, mecha-shifting; we have been fighting them so long and we're _**still**_ fighting them. But why? We have all those things now. But what hasn't changed?" She didn't wait for him to respond.

"Us. _We_ haven't changed. All of this extra security? It's just given us a cushion to get complacent and bicker with each other, which just makes more grimm!" She threw her hands up again, and her breasts shifted underneath her shirt. Weren't more buttons buttoned a minute ago? "Technology, technique, science, dust, none of this will ever work because- because-" Jaune couldn't help but notice just how attractive Pyrrha, or at least this dream version of her, looked when she was angry.

"Because we're divided!" She pointed at him, as if she had just realized something. "The only way to stop the Grimm forever and to ensure humanity's safety is to achieve unity." She stood up, the log disappearing as soon as her- wait... no, he was sure of it: her skirt had been longer when he'd first seen her.

With a rapid movement, she pushed at Jaune's shoulders, and instead of staggering back, he fell onto the log, which had moved behind his own legs. He could barely think before 'Pyrrha' plopped into his lap. "Nothing unites people like love, Jaune..." Her face was _very_ close to his.

Jaune felt himself leaning forward toward the dream version of Pyrrha, his anger momentarily forgotten in the haze of seeing her so close, and with vanishing clothing. It flared up a moment later though and with a growl, he pushed 'Pyrrha' off his lap, getting to his feet and pointing back. "Oh, that sounds _great_ and all, but how the hell am _I_ supposed to bring about this utopia? I am but a single man, if you haven't grasped, and it's not like you're giving me the power to split into multiple people! This doesn't help things at all in the grand scheme of things, only unites a select few people! There has to be a thousand better ways of uniting the populace than through my...my…" Jaune's face flushed as he found himself unable to speak the rest of the words, although his gaze dropped down to his crotch.

She grinned up at him, "Your dick?" She chuckled at him, before standing from where she had fallen. "Jaune, people touch other people... not like _that,_ well, not yet; I'm working on it" she smirked "people affect each other. You could bring together every young woman on remnant, hell, even if you could unite 500 huntresses? Imagine the good that would have on the world, if you just..." her smile had slowly faded, and her hands balled into a fist "stopped. FIGHTING ME!"

The young Huntsman-in-Training walked up, pointing a finger up at her face, teeth clenched in a snarl. " _ **No!**_ I am _not_ going to end up as some international manwhore to unite the populace! There are a thousand other ways that I could help people that doesn't have to involve dating a bunch of women! Much less sleeping with them!"

She turned around and _screamed_ at the glade. "Why are you making this so difficult!? Your great-grandfather wasn't nearly so hard to convince!" Jaune was ashamed to notice that her skirt had disappeared entirely, leaving her in a flattering pair of dark purple underwear. She turned around and pointed at him, finger almost shaking. "Look, I realized that Vacuo was a bit much to start with. A hundred and twenty-women was apparently more than you can accept! So, let's just... try again. This time, it's just five. **Just. Five.** Five beautiful, lovely, compassionate, sexy-as-all-hell girls! Once you've learned to manage them, we can expand."

"Expand?!" Jaune screamed. "EXPAND?! No! Just one! One! **One freakin'-** " He stopped in mid rant and blinked. "Wait, great-grandfather?"

"Yes, your great-grandfather. Why's that so important?" She pouted, and idly unbuttoned another button of her shirt.

 _Twitch_. "Will you stop that?!" Jaune snapped, before shaking his head again. "Great-grandpa Isaac was a man of virtue! A hero! There is no way in _hell_ that he'd be willing to sleep with a bunch of women! He was dedicated to great-grandma!"

Pyrrha massaged her forehead, her eyes scrunched shut. "The two aren't mutually exclusive, knucklehead. Isaac loved your great-grandmother very much, in the same way that he loved his eventual 11 long term partners. I was young, then. I didn't have the concentration to balance the affections of the 130-or-so he slept with at one point or another. Damned marriage laws. He and I had to choose one to marry."

Jaune's mouth opened and closed like a goldfish in shock. "One...one-hundred...thirty...no. No. No, no no! I refuse to believe it! I refuse to take part in this!" He stepped back, shaking his head, finger outstretched. "I am going to become a Huntsman, make my parents proud and have one, and _**ONLY ONE GIRLFRIEND!**_ "

His back hit something as he backed up, and he whirled to see 'Pyrrha' standing behind him, causing him to jump in surprise with a comedic squeak. "You know, I'm tempted to punish you for being so difficult. I could have you sleep-walk into Pyrrha's bed. The problem is, I'm not sure that she would mind. You fell asleep before she changed, but her underwear is _atrocious-,_ uh... _Delightful_ , I mean. You're gonna _love_ it." She smirked. "But then again... you're gonna love Blake's pajamas when I get you to see those."

She shook her head, as if clearing her mind. "Jaune, answer me this: do you care about the members of Team RWBY? Are they important to you?"

Jaune blinked and tilted his head in thought. "I...guess? I've just kind of met them. I mean, they're friends, sure, but I really only have gotten to know Yang and Ruby so far. I barely know much about them." He scratched his chin, his anger now replaced with a quiet contemplation.

"Just Yang and Ruby then. If they were hurting, would you want to help them?"

"Well, duh."

'Pyrrha' stepped forward, placing both hands on his shoulders. "Then listen carefully. You _**WILL**_ win their hearts. That's not a debate, it's not even a question. Your grandfather was very active, and I have a **lot** of practice." She released his shoulders, and sat back, folding her arms across her chest. Jaune wasn't even surprised to find that her shirt had disappeared, leaving her in a bra to match her underwear.

"But Jaune, if you reject them... imagine how that will _hurt_ them." She began to circle around him, her eyes judgemental and hard. "They just want to love you, Jaune. But because of your pig-headedness, they're going to be in _**so much pain.**_ Ruby's going to cry herself to sleep, more than once. Weiss won't; she'd never let her team see her so emotional. No, Weiss keeps it all in, so long that it _aches,_ and then she goes into an empty classroom and _sobs._ I can't tell you her full story, but Blake is _broken_ inside. She has compromised everything she once stood for to do what was right, and Yang?" She shook her head, her face stern. "Yang wants to be loved. More than any of them. She has been taking care of people for _so long-_ her father, her sister, her uncle- that she has never had a chance to take care of herself. She needs someone to rely on, and if you reject her?" Her head shook back and forth, again. "It will crush her."

She eventually completed a full loop, coming to stand before him. "And all of this pain?" Emerald filled his vision as she stepped forward, her hard finger pressing again into his chest. "It will all be _your fault_."

Jaune gave a choking noise as white hot fury began fill his conscious thought. "You... _you..._ _ **you...manipulative, conniving, underhanded…**_ " Jaune snarled, the storm clouds that had been gathering on the horizon now advancing upon the once peaceful glade. " _ **They wouldn't be in pain if it wasn't for you!**_ " Thunder rumbled, a skyward roar to match Jaune's now fierce temperament.

"Oh, they would. You need to understand, the love they'll feel once you accept them far surpasses what they're going through right now, and what they're going to go through. It will all be worth it. I'm starting the healing process, _you're_ just dragging it out." She seemed to ignore the thunderstorm. Her hair didn't even blow in the growing wind. "Like… you're peeling off a bandaid slowly. The bandage _had_ to happen, and it _has_ to come off, but you think you're being kind by slowing things down." She tsked and shook her head, wagging a finger at him. "You're not, by the way."

"Oh, and I can't help them as a _friend?!_ " Jaune snapped back, once again gesticulating wildly, the glade now shadowed by the stormclouds. "They don't even love me yet! I'm just a friend, and I plan to stay that way!"

"Nope. That won't help them the way you need to. Besides, this isn't up for debate. This _is_ happening. But I think the funniest thing is how little work I've had to do! Some of the biggest increases in interest haven't come from the dialogue options _at all._ The cliff, the interactions with Yang and Ruby. Hell, half of Vacuo… that was all you, lover boy!"

Jaune shook his head, frantic at this point. "No! That's not true! That's impossible!"

'Pyrrha' grinned. "Search your feelings, Jaune; you know it to be true…but there's one sure way to get what you want, Jaune. You could always… choose the mean choices. I make sure to load them full of vitriol and hate; you could always do that. RWBY's interest would go down and stay down. Sure, Pyrrha's would too, but that's the price you'd have to pay. You can't, though…it's not who you are." She blew a kiss at him. "And that's why I'll win."

She paused, and looked up at the sky, as if distracted by something. "Oh, Pyrrha's coming to wake you up." The false 'Pyrrha' gasped, delightedly. "And she hasn't changed! Wow! Those are nothing short of astounding! I just want to bury your face between them and- ugh!" She was very excited. "You have _got_ to see these." She did… _something_ with her hand, and Jaune's body started to float up.

Pyrrha called up to him as he floated ever-faster toward the sky. "We don't have to be enemies, Jaune! You're only making this harder on them, and yourself, if you keep fighting this!"

"Wait, hang on!" Jaune shouted, eyes wide and arms flailing. "I'm not done talking to you! You're the one giving me these choices! Hey! Let me down!" As he was lifted higher and higher, and the now naked form of Pyrrha was so small he couldn't see anything beyond her waving her hand up in the air, he gave one last shout. "Pyrrha! _**PYRRHA!**_ "

As the clouds covered his view of the ground below and everything began to grow black, Jaune heard something, something strange.

It sounded like…

His own voice?

" _Damn whippersnapper..._ "

* * *

 **[Beacon Academy - JNPR Dorm]**

Jaune's eyes flew open and he froze. Emerald eyes stared back, blinking in surprise. There was silence. Where was he? Oh, right. His dorm. With his team. The events of the previous day came rushing back to him. He had, once again, become the leader of a team, this time team Juniper, consisting of himself, Pyrrha, Ren and Nora.

"Um...hey?" Jaune replied, cocking one eyebrow slowly.

"I-I-" Pyrrha began to stutter, a look of embarrassment on her face, her cheeks turning the same color as her hair. She quickly backed up, and Jaune noticed with no small enjoyment that she was indeed wearing a very lovely outfit for her sleep clothes. Nothing risque, and yet the buttons that were unbuttoned left a wonderful view of her ample cleavage that he drank in like a man dying of thirst. "I'm sorry!" She replied before promptly rushing off into the next room where the Team JNPR bathroom was located.

Blinking bleary-eyed, Jaune rose from his bed, scratching his head. "What was all that about…?" He mused aloud. A girlish giggle caught his attention and he found his gaze snapping to the room's other two occupants, Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie.

"You were…" Ren cleared his throat. "You were murmuring Pyrrha's name in your sleep." The quiet young man explained, turning away to make his bed.

"Renny!" Nora shouted, stomping one foot. "You're interrupting the natural processes of love!"

Jaune blinked. He should have felt embarrassed, but the events of the dream were still running through his mind. His Semblance seemed to be working against him, insisting that his great-grandfather was...was... _that_! To make matters worse, it had a good point. As long as Jaune kept picking the kind options, it would end up being Vacuo all over again! Ignoring the bantering between his two teammates, Jaune ran his hands over his face and groaned.

He had his work cut out for him. He wasn't going to give up though. There had to be a way out of this, right?

Right?

* * *

 **B/N: Bahahaha! Search your feelings Jaune, you know it to be true! Yes, I wrote all of 'Pyrrha's lines for this chapter, because, well, this is just a rehashing of the arguments Lefou and I have all the time. I think Jaune should sleep with all of them by the end of the story, and Lefou, well, doesn't. All we did was lay out our reasons, and then add some flavor around them. Although, Lefou did nix my idea of having real Pyrrha wear lingerie to sleep. (Oh, you can also thank me for the two Star Wars lines XD)**

* * *

 **A/N: There we go, another chapter down! I wasn't expecting this dream sequence to go on for so long, but I think it kind of explained a few things, as well as set up one of the big struggles Jaune faces this semester. Someone did mention that it seemed incongruous that Jaune didn't want a harem, but kept picking the right options, which is true. However, notice how the choices in the previous chapters keep seeming to hedge him into picking the option that gets him more attention? Combine that with his naturally kind personality and Jaune's kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place. Which, let's be honest, is exactly where you readers want him. Special shout out to my beta for this, Spooky, who actually helped write this chapter with me, mainly Dream!Pyrrha's lines.**

 **I'm close to finishing the next chapter of Moonlit Sonata and Innocence will actually have another chapter as well! Look forward to those in the coming future. Signing off for now, LaughingLefou.**


	10. In Which I Misspell Canon

_I own RWBY_

 **Unwinnable**

 **Chapter 10: In Which I Misspell Canon and Get Cannon Instead**

* * *

"...which of course, left only myself out of my entire team to fight the great beast alone. Now, a lesser man might have crumbled before such odds, but I wasn't about to give in so easily! Taking my blunderbuss, I loaded it with shot, and with a cry of 'Excelsior!', charged into battle!"

At the front of the classroom, a large, burly man with the most magnificent mustache to ever grace Beacon's hallowed halls rambled on and on about his conquests over the Grimm. Meanwhile the class for whom he was lecturing were all in various stages of trying their hardest to not fall asleep. One Ruby Rose had distracted herself by drawing unflattering portraits of the pompous Professor, Weiss was dutifully taking notes (although anyone who could see her could tell she'd rather have been anywhere else than listening to the old windbag), Blake's eyes kept slowly closing before she'd jolt awake, trying to pretend like she wasn't falling asleep, and Yang was snoozing away without a care in the world.

On Team JNPR's side, Jaune was currently deep in thought, the droning of one Professor Port like so much white noise to his distracted consciousness. He already knew the major key differences between Arctic and Suburban Beowulfs and he couldn't care less about Port's supposed 1 versus 100 match. No, his thoughts were consumed with his dream that morning, and the portents it brought. Since breakfast, (which was a spotty affair what with Pyrrha acting awkward, Nora acting giddy and Yang teasing) Jaune had been thinking long and hard about how he could stop his Semblance from causing any more havoc. He'd gone through his past, from girl to girl, trying to figure out how he could have stopped it before it went out of control...

* * *

 **[Vacuo Preparatory School - 2 Years Ago]**

* * *

"...It's just...it's just...I'm sick of everyone just seeing me for my father's name!" A young woman with dark violet hair paced back and forth across the sandstone balcony overlooking the Great Expanse, the sea of sand that stretched on into what seemed like infinity past Vacuo Preparatory School. Behind her, sitting against the wall of the doom room behind was one Jaune Arc, age 15.

"That's just dumb." Jaune muttered, shaking his head. "You're such an awesome Huntress in your own right!"

Nebula Violette turned on her heel and affixed the young man with a distressed expression. "You're the only one who sees that though!"

Jaune shook his head again. "Not true! Your team certainly believes it too! Lemme ask you this; do you think Octavia is dumb?"

"What? No!" Nebula exclaimed, looking upset.

"Okay, what about Dew?"

"No!"

"Gwen?"

"Why are you asking me this?! Of course I don't think any of them are stupid; they're the best team I could have asked for!" Nebula retorted, almost on the verge of shouting.

Jaune smirked. "So you agree that they're all smart then. Think about this then: They all follow you. They've all chosen to accept you as their leader, to guide them. Not just them, but a lot of other students. Heck, there's a reason I spend so much time studying with you. You're the smartest girl here!"

Nebula's face lit up with a bright blush. "C-come on Jaune...now you're just teasing me." She turned away, trying to avoid looking at Jaune lest he see her embarrassment.

Said Huntsman-in-Training assumed that she had become upset and got to his feet, and without thinking, enveloped the trainee Huntress in an embrace, causing her cheeks to go an even deeper red. "Nebula, you are amazing. The teachers think so, the students think so, and sure, there are a few people who keep acting like you're only good for your name, but you know what?" Jaune continued triumphantly, turning Nebula around to she was forced to look into his eyes, her cheeks flushed. "Screw them. You, Nebula Violette, are amazing. Stand tall, stand proud, and don't ever let _anyone_ tell you that you aren't worthy of being a Huntress!"

Nebula blinked, feeling tears starting to form in the corners of her eyes. "Jaune…" Nebula whispered, staring right into Jaune's eyes. Her face began to move closer to his, her mouth opening as she continued, "I...Jaune, I-"

Jaune abruptly let go of her, smiling from ear to ear as he stepped back. "Feeling better?"

The young woman's right eye twitched and gave a smile that was more grimace than actual smile. "Y-yeah…"

Suddenly the door burst open behind the both of them, revealing one Sun Wukong. "Dude! Dudedudedudedudedude! They brought back the mini Quesadillas in the cafeteria!" Jaune's eyes shot wide open comically and without another word, he shouldered past Sun, taking off at a breakneck pace, his sneakers squeaking on the tile floor below. "H-hey! Dude! Wait! Damn it, you better not eat 'em all!" Sun yelled after him, quickly turning on his heel and following suit, leaving Nebula standing alone on the balcony.

She stared at the empty spot where Jaune had once been, emotionlessly for a minute or so before finally breaking out into a soft smile, tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear. "Jaune Arc...I love-"

Much further down the hall, Jaune ran and ran as fast as his legs could move. The mini Quesadillas were a very popular commodity in Vacuo Preparatory School, and if he didn't get to the cafeteria, he'd miss his chance for the insanely delicious treats. However, a minute or so after he'd left the room, a translucent window popped up, causing him to freeze in his tracks.

 **[Nebula Violette's interest has sharply increased!]**

 **[Nebula Violette is now in love with you!]**

"What the- _OOF!_ " Jaune's train of thought was violently interrupted when Sun suddenly crashed into him, knocking him over. "Dude! Don't just stop man!" The monkey faunus grabbed Jaune roughly by the arm and hauled him to his feet before taking off at a run again. Jaune, however, just continued to stand there in the middle of the hall, staring off into space, mouth slowly opening and closing.

 _Is that true?_

 _Is Nebula...really...in_ _ **love**_ _with me?_

* * *

 **[Present Day - Beacon Academy - Professor Port's Classroom]**

* * *

She had been.

Jaune gave an extremely quiet groan and rubbed his hands over his face. There was really no way around it. Example after example, and he was starting to notice a disturbing pattern. His Semblance, as much as he was loathe to admit it, was right. While his Semblance wasn't helping matters, the brunt of the blame fell onto his shoulders, what with his tendency to involve himself in the troubles of other people, notably other women. He might not have been the straw that broke the camel's back in Vacuo, but his actions and need to aid others had set up that powder keg.

He frowned to no one in particular. If he wanted to avoid ending up in a similar situation as back in Vacuo, he had to stop being a good samaritan. No more helping others. He didn't need to be an asshole about things, but he needed to stop being a busy body, and for once, learn to ignore those in need. Surely the people here in Beacon could take care of their own issues without his interference, right? He nodded to himself, just enough to make the movement imperceptible. He was surrounded by mature Huntsmen and Huntresses who were more than capable of helping themselves. He could just kick back, relax, and focus on being there for his gorgeous partner.

Blue eyes flickered to the side, catching a glimpse of said red-haired Spartan out of the corner of his eye. She had been sitting next to him, although all throughout the class, she'd kept shooting him glances. Once again, from what Jaune could see, she was staring at him. Her eyes were so enchanting, the most beautiful shade of green. Jaune slowly turned to her, causing her to snap her attention to the front of the class as to not get caught. "Psst. Pyrrha." Jaune whispered.

"Hm?" Pyrrha asked, trying to act nonchalant.

"How on Remnant have you not fallen asleep yet?" He jokingly murmured, eliciting a near silent giggle from his partner.

"He's not _that_ bad…" Pyrrha murmured back, covering her smile with her hand.

"Pyrrha, you're sweet, but be honest with me, you can't possibly think that Port is interesting."

Pyrrha's cheeks flushed slightly. "I'll just say that I think I'd much rather be in practice than here."

"Tell me about it." Jaune shook his head. "Nora's asleep too, from the looks of it."

"At least Ren is taking notes for her. Speaking of which, what about your notes?" Pyrrha gently reminded.

"I'll be fine," Jaune assured her, waving his hand lazily. "We covered this back in Vacuo Preparatory School third year."

Pyrrha nodded. "Alright. If you ever want to go over notes for a refresher, just let me know and I'll let you borrow mine."

Jaune flashed her a heartfelt smile. "Thanks, Pyrrha. I lucked out with you as a partner."

Pyrrha's cheeks flushed again and she looked away, unable to keep the smile off of her face. "I-I feel likewise."

 **[Pyrrha Nikos' interest has increased!]**

 _Heh, nice!_ Jaune congratulated himself. A shift in tone from the Professor grabbed his attention and he relocated his gaze to the front of the room, where the portly Professor had apparently ceased his rambling.

"So who here thinks they have what it takes to be a true Hunter?" The large man boomed.

Not a second later, one Weiss Schnee jumped to her feet, her hand shooting up into the air with the excitable demeanor of someone claiming the last slice of pie. "I do!"

Professor Port gave a laugh that shook his entire frame. "Well said! The rest of you, watch closely. Ms. Schnee, I have here a particularly vicious Grimm I captured during my last sojourn into the Emerald Forest. Your task is to defeat it."

Weiss strode forward confidently, Myrtenaster held at the ready. "I understand, Professor." The heiress made her way to the right side of the room, a large metal cage sitting opposite her on the other side. Jaune briefly wondered why he hadn't noticed it before, but shook his head and watched closely. Port proceeded to press a button on his desk, and with a hiss, the cage opened up. No sooner had the door cleared the halfway mark, then a black, red and bone-white boar came rushing out, snorting and squealing in a way that sounded like nails on a chalkboard. With a particularly loud snort, the beast proceeded to rush at Weiss, razor sharp tusks bearing down on the heiress.

At the last second, Weiss smirked and calmly side-stepped the Boarbatusk, the beast skidding past her and almost tripping head over heels. Calmly, Weiss' arm moved and Myrtenaster opened up a series of angry red lines across the beast's flesh. The black boar curled up and suddenly began to spin before promptly and abruptly speeding back towards Weiss like a living yo-yo. Weiss, to her credit, was prepared, and with a wave of Myrtenaster, a white glyph bearing a remarkable resemblance to her family crest appeared. No sooner had the beast passed over it, then a spire of ice erupted from the ground where it lay and launched the beast into the air, causing it to break out into a fresh series of squeals and snorts.

The earsplitting noise didn't last long; the beast fell back to Remnant and, unable to change its trajectory in midair, found itself becoming impaled right onto the jagged ice sculpture Weiss had summoned. The creature twitched, then laid still, promptly fading into black smoke. The room erupted into polite applause as Weiss turned to the students and bowed. Jaune, however, could only roll his eyes. It wasn't a show, and yet here she was treating it like a popularity contest.

"Bravo! It appears as though we are in the presence of a true Huntress-in-Training!" Port exclaimed, causing Weiss to simper.

A few moments later, a loud bell rang and everyone began to get up out of their seats, a general feel of relief washing over the class. Jaune got to his feet and turned to his partner. "So, what's next?"

"Well, it looks like we've got Professor Oobleck's class next." Pyrrha explained, after a few seconds of searching through her scroll.

" _Doctor!"_

Both Jaune and Pyrrha looked at each other oddly in response to the extremely faint cry, cocking an eyebrow. "That was...odd." Jaune murmured, shaking his head.

"Heya, Jaune-Jaune!" Nora exclaimed, suddenly popping up from behind, causing Jaune to jump in surprise.

"Gah! Nora!" Jaune cried out, whirling around. Next to the hyperactive ginger was one Lie Ren, giving a small, wry smile.

"Sorry about that. We all ready to go to our next class?" Ren queried softly, earning a nod from their leader.

"Y-yeah." Jaune grabbed his books and followed the rest of his team out the class. Team JNPR stepped out into the hall, making their way down toward Oobleck's class. Nora started matching strides with Pyrrha, murmuring something to her, Pyrrha's response being to glance back at Jaune, her cheeks flushing. Jaune would have been a little happier, but his thoughts were still mostly consumed with how he could outwit the reflection of his own soul. That alone still confused him, how the hell could that be the reflection of his soul, especially with his desire to have only a single girlfriend? Was he really in denial or-

" _You dolt!_ " A sharp voice caught his attention, dragging him from his reverie on hooks of shrill anger. Despite himself, he couldn't help but to stop his walking and turn his gaze to see what was the problem. Further down the hall was Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee, standing facing each other, and it didn't take a genius to tell that the latter was far from happy. " _This_ was what you were doing in class?!" Weiss shoved a piece of paper in Ruby's face, causing the silver eyed girl to recoil as though struck.

"Hey, lay off it Weiss-cream," Yang, who was standing off to the side, chimed in. "Port was full of more hot air than one of those balloon airships."

" _And you!_ You were sleeping! You should have been at least telling your sister, our _leader_ ," Weiss practically spat the title bitterly, once again causing Ruby to wince, "-to pay more attention to the lesson! Why Ozpin ever bothered to choose such an...an... _immature child_ like yourself for Team Leader is beyond me!"

Jaune froze, realizing he was already in mid-step, attempting to approach the argument. _What am I- no. No no no. I'm not getting involved. This is Team RWBY's problem, not mine._ The blond swordsman turned on his heel, starting to walk away in the other direction, back toward where his own team were rounding a corner. As he walked away, he could still hear the argument going on between Ruby, Weiss and Yang.

"Weiss, I'm sorry! Really! We can study together! I'll pay attention, I promise!" Ruby pleaded, her tone causing Jaune to sympathetically wince. He almost stopped, but shook his head and sped up his footsteps.

 _She'll be fine. Ruby was allowed here two years early for a reason, I'm sure she'll be fine._ Jaune internally mused, trying to tune out the argument. _She'll be fine, Yang can help take care of it. You just worry about you and your team. Stop being a good samaritan._ Jaune took a deep breath and caught up to his own team, the three of whom had stopped.

"Something wrong, Jaune?" Pyrrha asked, noting the odd look on Jaune's face.

Jaune flashed her a smile and shook his head. "Ah-no. I was just um...distracted. Y-yeah. Come on, let's get to class. I don't want to be late for our first day, you know?"

Nora jumped into the air enthusiastically. "Yeah! Last one there has to make pancakes!" The girl shouted before running off, leaving behind Pyrrha, Jaune and Ren, the last of whom was sporting a wry smile.

"You want us to-" Pyrrha started, before Ren cut her off with a smile.

"No, don't worry about it. She knows I'm usually the slowest walker, so she does it on purpose. I don't mind." Ren mused, smiling softly.

"Very well. Jaune?" Pyrrha started.

"Yeah, let's go." Pyrrha and Jaune fell into step, walking together silently with Ren following closely behind them. Despite the light-hearted atmosphere, Jaune couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt.

 _She'll be fine. She doesn't need my help. None of them do. Just stick to your guns, and you won't get anyone interested in you anymore…_

* * *

 **A/N: Okay, I know, a shorter than usual chapter. The reason for this is twofold; one, because I wanted to update something this week, and I had the most written for this, and two, because I thought this would be the best place to end this current chapter, without having to make you guys wait even longer for me to get to the next 'ending point.'**

 **I do want to apologize for not updating more. I've found, unfortunately, that I've been getting a little burnt out, and I think it's because the whole year I've been doing this, it's been pretty much 99% RWBY fics. Next week should see an update to the Phantom Nevermore. Again, apologies for the shorter chapter, but I did want to give you guys something to tide you over until my next update.**


	11. Do Bches Love Canons?

**Unwinnable**

 **Chapter 11: Do B**ches Love Canons?**

* * *

There was no class that Jaune dreaded more in his entire school career than Combat Class. He was fully aware of the irony of it, as if there was one thing Hunters were supposed to be best at, it was Combat, but his issue lied in the fact that one-on-one, he was next to useless. In a team, sure, he was excellent at spotting and taking advantage of openings in his enemies. Against an opponent in single combat though? As he stared into Professor Goodwitch's classroom, he groaned and slumped. It was a cherry on top of the already awkward day that he'd been involved in. Professor Oobleck's class wasn't any better, what with Ruby looking miserable, Weiss looking pissy and Yang looking like she was more and more tempted to deck the heiress by the minute.

"Are...you okay, Jaune?" The concerned voice of his partner caught his ear.

"Yeah, I just…" He paused. He really didn't want to voice his worries about team RWBY to Pyrrha, lest she bring up the idea of him giving any aid. Instead, he sighed, voicing his first concerns. "This is embarrassing…"

"What is?"

Jaune looked to the side and grimaced. "I'm...not the best at single combat."

Pyrrha gave a small laugh. "That's alright, Jaune. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. I'm sure that Professor Goodwitch takes your skill level into account."

"Why can't schools ever do team battles? I'm good at team battles. I can direct people. I just can't direct myself…" Jaune groaned.

Pyrrha gently placed a hand on Jaune's shoulder and smiled. "That's why you're our leader, Jaune." She opened the door with her other hand and gently helped push her despondent leader through the door, amidst a series of groans and sighs. "If you're that unconfident in your skills, we could...erm...w-we could do some practice in the evenings?" Pyrrha finished with a questioning tone, seemingly nervous.

Jaune turned to her and smiled, nodding. "Sounds good to me. Just...have a little mercy?"

His partner giggled. "I'll do my best." Gently, yet forcefully, she led Jaune to a seat, Ren right behind them. Nora, who had obviously been waiting for them, was bouncing up and down in her seat excitedly, teal eyes sparkling.

Jaune's gaze flickered to her and the corner of his mouth twitched upward in an amused smile. "At least Nora seems excited about class."

"I can't wait! I wonder who I'm gonna fight?!" The ginger haired young woman was excitedly shaking like she was mere seconds away from bolting from her seat to the arena below.

"Heh, I feel sorry for whoever has to fight you…" Jaune murmured, exchanging amused glances with Ren.

Other students began to filter in, and mixed among them were Team RWBY. Jaune took a glance over to them, and almost recoiled. Between outside of Professor Port's classroom and the tenseness in Oobleck's classroom, Team RWBY was certainly not looking well. Weiss seemed to be pointedly ignoring Ruby, who was doing her best to try and look chipper, while failing. Yang was looking quite cross with Weiss and Blake was being wise by keeping her distance. To call them a Team would have been a joke.

To make matters even worse, they were making a beeline right towards Team JNPR. Jaune inwardly grimaced. If Ruby or Yang asked for some sort of help or advice, he'd be hard pressed in refusing without making himself look like a jerk in the eyes of Pyrrha. An assholish way of looking at things, but if he was trying to stick to his idea of refusing to stick his nose in anyone else's business, being near the problem was going to be an issue. "Hey." Ruby murmured as she sat down next to Jaune. Wordlessly, Jaune just nodded in her direction and quickly returned his attention to the front of the classroom.

Luckily for him, before Ruby could talk to him any more, the appearance of one Glynda Goodwitch silenced the entire room. The bespectacled blond woman approached the front of the amphitheater-like classroom, riding crop at the ready. "Good afternoon, everyone. I am Professor Goodwitch, and this is Combat Year 1. In this class we will be testing your combat skills and helping to refine your combat styles. To start off, I would like Mr. Cardin Winchester and Mr. Jaune Arc to approach the class."

At first, Jaune was elated. It wasn't like he could be talked to if he was busy fighting. Then he realized he was going to have to fight first in front of everyone and gave a groan. Pyrrha sympathetically patted his shoulder as Jaune slowly stood to his feet. Like a man on death row, Jaune trudged to the front of the class. Opposite him, a towering large student stood smirking at him, obviously in much better spirits. _Hm. He's big, tall, carries a mace...he's probably slow. I can use my superior agility to- wait, Goodwitch is still talking._ Jaune turned his attention to the Professor. "Both of you will fight until one of you reaches the 15% Aura mark, or until one of you can no longer fight."

The larger student sneered. "At least this will be a great warm-up."

Jaune glowered, but refused to respond. _At least my Semblance should give me some help_. For once, Jaune had to admit that there was at least one thing that was beneficial about his normally irritating Semblance. He unsheathed Crocea Mors, his hand gripping the hilt in a white knuckled grip. There was a silence, broken only by the slight murmurs of people in the classroom as everyone waited for Goodwitch to start the battle. Said blond Headmistress was busy pressing things on her Scroll, setting up the arena and the barrier to protect the surrounding students from any possible collateral damage. Finally she finished, standing off to the side and raising her crop. "Students at the ready!"

Jaune got into a stance, frowning. He remembered some of what he'd been taught at Vacuo Preparatory School, but not enough to be confident in what he was about to do. No, there was no time to be nervous. His opponent swung his mace in threatening circles, the _woosh_ of the force of each swing being enough to set Jaune's nerves on edge. " _Begin!_ "

 _Alright, he's slow, which mean he's probably going to try and use his force to his advantage. If I can parry his blows just right, I can throw him off balance. Wait, why hasn't my Semblance kicked in yet? Shouldn't I have gotten a 'combat minigame' message at this point? Do I have to actually start fighting for it to start?_ Jaune's train of thought was rudely interrupted when he caught the head of his opponent's mace square to the chest, sending him flying backward and onto the floor, driving the wind violently from his lungs. There was a collective wince from the crowd, and a window popped up before his eyes.

 **[Weiss Schnee's interest has decreased!]**

Jaune glared at the message and shook his head, staggering to his feet. His opponent laughed. "Come on now, wake up Jauney-boy!"

Jaune's eyes flickered to the screen, noting that his Aura had been taken down by a good 18%. _Bastard Semblance! Evidently I can't rely on it, for whatever reason. Fine. Damn, this guy moves fast for being in such heavy armor. I need to wait for him to take another vertical swing at me and angle the blow away from me. Once he loses his balance, I can take a few swings at his neck. No wait, chances are he'd know of how slow he was and he'd make steps to avoid that. If he chokes up on the haft of his mace he'd-_

 _ **WHAM!**_

Another blow to Jaune's side sent him reeling, once again interrupting his thoughts. "Gah!" Jaune stumbled backward, amidst a series of guffaws from Cardin.

 **[Weiss Schnee's interest has decreased!]**

It took every ounce of willpower Jaune had not to look over and affix Weiss with a withering glare. _You're_ _ **not**_ _helping!_ Jaune, throwing caution to the wind, rushed forward and swung Crocea Mors in an admittedly swift slash. Cardin, who'd been too busy posturing for the class, didn't noticing Jaune's sudden movement until it was too late and Crocea Mors managed to slice right at his neck. His Aura prevented the attack from becoming fatal, but the razor sharp Vosnium blade took its pound of flesh, or Aura to be precise. Cardin growled and stepped back himself, putting some distance between himself and Jaune to prevent any follow-ups. Jaune meanwhile had gone back to analyzing, his mind racing.

 _Alright, a hit! He's put some distance between us, which means that it gives me a little more time to think things through. Now, his armor's tough, but like yours, he's got some gaps. If you can get in a thrust right underneath the breastplate, you can-_ Jaune noticed in time Cardin's swing and took a slight step back himself to avoid getting hit...only to notice too late that the jewel atop Cardin's mace was now glowing red. He had only enough time to realize it was a Fire Dust crystal before an explosion emitted from the jewel, throwing him backward onto the ground once more with a groan.

 **[Weiss Schnee's interest has decreased!]**

Jaune twitched, furious. It wasn't as though he had any stock in her interest in the first place, but to be constantly reminded of her decreasing interest after every mistake was really starting to wear his patience down. Between that, and her mistreatment of Ruby, and Jaune was having to fight back the urge to snap at the heiress. He rolled out of the way as Cardin's mace fell down again, the explosion barely missing him as he scrambled to his feet in time to dodge a second hit, this one faster than he had been expecting. "This is the part where you lose, Jauney-boy!" Cardin taunted. Jaune bit his tongue, blue eyes twitching with barely contained fury.

 _Fuck it_. Jaune once again threw caution to the wind, Crocea Mors held in a reverse grip as he planned to rush in under Cardin's guard and attack him up close. With as much speed as he could muster, Jaune ran at Winchester...only to receive Cardin's mace right to the sternum once again, tossing him aside. As he hit the ground, a buzzer sounded and Jaune groaned with embarrassment. He'd lost, and badly.

"Mr. Arc." The voice of Glynda Goodwitch was sharp and cold, enough to make him wince. "While planning your actions through is a good habit, you cannot spend too much time overthinking your every move. More than once you were simply sitting lost in your own thoughts; such actions will get you killed in action." Jaune simply nodded, cheeks burning with shame. The only bright side he could get out of the situation was that Pyrrha's interest hadn't decreased at all with the piss-poor performance he'd given.

"Mr. Winchester. Grandstanding in combat is a foolish idea. Mr. Arc managed to attack you successfully because of your platforming. In the future, I'd highly suggest maintaining focus on the fight instead of trying to impress your peers." Glynda continued. Cardin, however, paid her almost no attention. He instead simply rolled his eyes and gave a wicked smirk to Jaune.

"Man, if you're what the Arc family is producing, then no wonder you're all but forgotten nowadays!" Cardin mocked, with the sounds of the rest of his team backing him with jeers.

Jaune's body stiffened. Slowly he turned to Cardin, having been facing away from him. "I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you correctly, Mr. Winchester. _Care to repeat yourself?_ " Jaune all but hissed. The students near the front of the class whispered among themselves, surprised at the sudden change in Jaune's demeanor.

Cardin didn't seem at all phased by Jaune's burgeoning wrath. "I said, your family _sucks_!"

Jaune's hands clenched and he smiled a small, bitter smile. "Right... just wanted to make sure there wasn't some sort of... 'misunderstanding.'" With that, Jaune turned on his heel and walked away, with Cardin's laughter at his heels. He sat down next to his teammates, all whom looked varying degrees of worried.

"Ignore him." Ren replied, "He's just doing it to get a rise out of you."

Jaune was silent for a few moments, but slowly, a wicked grin of his own spread across his face. "Oh, and it worked. He may not know it, but _this means war._ "

Pyrrha frowned worriedly as Jaune steepled his fingers in front of his face, but before she could say anything, her attention was called. "Pyrrha Nikos and Yang Xiao Long, please approach the front of the classroom."

Yang practically leaped out of her seat. "Oh hell yeah! Let's do this!"

Jaune looked up, his attention appearing to be focused on the upcoming fight but a closer inspection would reveal his gaze to be unfocused, his thoughts obviously elsewhere…

 **[End of Class]**

Pyrrha had won. That much didn't come as a surprise to anyone, even to Yang, although the blonde brawler had given her a run for her money. The two were given their compliments by Glynda and Yang was given the advice of becoming a little more focused on her strikes, although it appeared as though the advice had fallen upon deaf ears. Pyrrha approached her team with a small smile. "So, is everyone ready for the next class?"

Nora nodded, jumping up from her seat. "You were awesome, P-Money! That flippy thing you did was so cool! Ooh, could you teach me to do that?!"

With a slight flush to her cheeks, Pyrrha nodded. "I could try."

"You were indeed incredible out there, Pyrrha." Ren added demurely.

Jaune was silent, his blue eyes narrowed on the space in front of him, hands still steepled in front of his face. It was clear that his attention was elsewhere. "Jaune?" Pyrrha queried, tilting her head. "Are you alright?"

"Hm?" Jaune, snapping out of his reverie looked up at his partner, blinking. "Sorry, lost in thought. Why don't you guys go ahead to class? I need to stay here and talk to Ms. Goodwitch about something." With that, Jaune got to his feet and shouldered past Pyrrha, his expression still hard, although there was a small smirk on his lips that had the redheaded Spartan frowning.

Pyrrha turned to Ren and Nora, both of whom shrugged and with another, albeit shaky, smile murmured, "Well, we should get to our next class. Professor Peach, I believe." The three began to make their way out of the classroom, but Pyrrha paused before leaving, turning back to look over her shoulder at Jaune who'd approached Goodwitch and drew her lips into a thin line. She hoped that this wasn't some sort of plot to get back at Cardin for his comment. Sure, it was uncalled for and rude, but Pyrrha didn't know Jaune well enough to know how he'd handle that kind of insult. All she could hope for was that her leader didn't take things too far…

Further down at the front of the classroom, Jaune stood before Goodwitch's desk. "Excuse me, Headmistress?"

The emerald-eyed blonde woman looked up. "Yes, Mr. Arc?"

"I had a quick question. I know that combat class here tends to be one on one fights, but I have to ask: will we be doing any team combat? I find that fighting with a team against another team tends to be a very different affair than fighting solo, and while solo fighting is important, wouldn't it be a good idea to focus also on team combat?" Jaune explained carefully, his tone and expression neutral.

Glynda paused in her paperwork, her pen ceasing. A thoughtful look fell over her face. "Actually, Mr. Arc, I admit, I have had no plans for doing such at the moment, but I had been discussing such a thing with some of the faculty. Would I be remiss to assume that you are volunteering Team JNPR to show the differences between team and solo combat?"

Jaune nodded. "That's correct."

Glynda stared at him impassively for a few moments, falling silent. Then; "And I'm assuming you'd be wanting to face off against Team CRDL?"

"You'd be right."

With a tilt of an eyebrow, Glynda added, "And this would have nothing to do with Cardin's comment after your fight?"

Jaune had the decency to blush slightly. "Maybe a little bit. However, I also feel that showing both teams against each other would help to contrast that simply working solo doesn't always help when you're working with others. By having both Cardin and I in the same team fight, it'll help show that difference." His voice was calm, rational, but internally Jaune was nervous. His plans were hedging on Glynda accepting his suggestion, but he had to make it seem as though his desire for revenge against Cardin wasn't the driving force behind it, or at least not the only one.

Glynda didn't respond for a few moments, instead choosing to shuffle some paperwork around and signing a few more. Finally, she spoke up. "I suppose what you say has some merit. Very well. It likely won't be next class, but perhaps the one after that, at the end of this week. I'm looking forward to see if your leadership abilities are as advanced as Headmaster Oswald claims they are." Icy green eyes lock onto sapphire ones and Jaune smiles.

"I'll be sure not to disappoint then." Jaune replied, giving a little half bow before turning on his heel and walking away. As he walked up the stairs to the door of the classroom, a dark smile found itself on his face, and he had to fight the urge to laugh maniacally.

 _No one insults the Arc family and gets away with it…no one._

Jaune had no sooner exited the classroom, slight smirk resting upon his features, when his thought process, (and simmering anger) was brought to a screeching halt upon one Yang Xiao Long grabbing him and pulling him aside. "Wha-Yang? What's going on?" Jaune noticed the look on his fellow blonde's face was not a pleased one, her expression a little nervous, which seemed off kilter for the usually nonchalant and boisterous bruiser.

"Hey Jaune. Look, we need to talk. I, um…" Yang sighed and ran a hand through her hair slowly, releasing a breath. "I hate to ask for outside help, but I don't really know who else I could turn to. I'm sure you've noticed by now the... _situation_ with our team."

Jaune inwardly winced. _No. No, no, no. Do not ask me to help Yang! Please, do not ask me to help!_ "Erm...y-yeah. I have."

Yang continued, not noticing the strange look passing over Jaune's face. "You've had experience with leading a team before, right? You don't think you could...you know...maybe give Ruby some advice? I'd solve things myself, but…" Yang grimaced. "I don't think beating the crap out of the SDC Heiress would go over well with anyone involved, and she'd probably end up hating Ruby more."

 _Fuck._ Jaune had to fight the urge to facepalm. This was the _exact_ situation he wanted to avoid, but here he was, facing Ruby's sister, asking for help with the problem. Well, he was _not_ going to get involved in this. He'd simply let her down easy and- _No!_ Jaune's train of thought was once again brought to a screeching halt when he noticed that the entire hall in front of the classroom had gone monochrome and Yang was frozen.

"...FUCK!" Jaune swore angrily and as loudly as he could, kicking the wall with enough force to cause him to wince, stubbing his toe even through his school shoes. "Ow! Damn it!" Glaring daggers, Jaune looked to the inevitable holographic window that always followed time stopping, and unsurprisingly found it floating tauntingly before him.

 **A.) Sure! I'll chat with her as soon as I can.**

 **B.) I'd love to, but a reward wouldn't be amiss, would it? Say...for a date?**

 **C.) Sorry. Ruby's on her own on this one.**

 **D.) Why? Weiss is right, Ruby is far too immature to be a leader.**

Jaune would have punched the screen if he didn't already know that it'd probably not only hurt his hand, but select something at random. He was stuck. Sure, he _could_ help, but...he shook his head. No. He was going to stick to his guns. D was right out though, it was just too cruel, plus he didn't agree with Weiss at all, but C just felt too...impersonal? Snippy? Still, it was the only logical option he could pick that would get him out of the situation. With any luck, hopefully Yang would understand. Hesitantly, and with a sense of heavy-heartedness, he pressed the third option, and waited for color to return.

"Sorry." Jaune replied, his mouth moving of its own accord, much to his displeasure, especially with how cold it sounded. "Ruby's on her own on this one."

Yang actually recoiled, and for a few brief moments, Jaune feared she'd lash out at him, but instead she simply drew her lips into a thin line and nodded. "Yeah. I understand. Sorry to bother, Vomit Boy." Yang turned away and walked away, Jaune unable to say anything as he remained in the control of his Semblance. Internally he winced at the look of disappointment on Yang's face, but the real kicker was what popped up right behind her as she walked away.

 **[Yang Xiao Long's interest has sharply decreased!]**

 **[You are no longer best friends with Yang Xiao Long!]**

 **[Pyrrha Nikos' interest has sharply decreased!]**

 **[Pyrrha Nikos no longer has a crush on you!]**

The first two messages Jaune could see coming, but it was the second two that had him frozen in place, eyes widened even after his Semblance had let him go. He quickly whipped his head around, only to see Pyrrha, who'd evidently been waiting for Jaune to leave the classroom standing there, frowning at him. "P-Pyrrha!"

"Why didn't you help, Jaune?" Pyrrha asked, her tone slightly accusatory.

Jaune bit his tongue before answering, "I...I wouldn't have been able to help anyway! I-I've never had to deal with inter-team conflicts before!" The excuse sounded hollow and weak in his own ears, and evidently it must have sounded the same to Pyrrha, who only shook her head.

"Still, couldn't you have at least tried? It seems a bit cold to simply turn Yang away when she was asking for help like that." Pyrrha murmured, turning away from Jaune and starting to walk off down the hall.

Jaune stood there, watching his retreating partner and groaned softly to himself. This day was just getting better and better. Oh well, he could think about fixing things between himself and Yang and Pyrrha at a later date. For the time being, he'd other things in mind, like utterly humiliating a certain egotistical jerk who dared to insult his family...

Clad only in a white button-up shirt, the translucent form of Yang Xiao Long popped into being, cartwheeling through the air before leaning against a wall, seemingly as if she'd planned the whole thing.

"Sorry, babe. You can't fight destiny..."

* * *

 **B/N: Not much to add. Jaune's making some foolish mistakes, behavin' a little selfishly, gettin' hemmed in by his Semblance. All intentional, I assure you.**

* * *

 **A/N: Uh oh, Jaune's** _ **pissed**_ **and not only that, but has refused to help Yang straight to her face. What consequences will this have on Team JNPR and possibly even team RWBY? Will Professor Port be able to help Weiss and Ruby fix their issues in this timeline? How far will our blonde boy go to get revenge on Cardin, and will his reputation manage to remain untarnished after? All these questions will be answered and more next chapter!**

 **So yeah, I know I've been away for a few weeks. I was getting in some winter break so I could have a little time to myself and prevent myself from burning out. Plus, I finally got to start working on my own original work! I'd started writing fanfiction as writing practice for more original work, but got so caught up in keeping up with giving you guys updates that I hadn't started off on anything of my own, but no longer!**

 **Signing off for now, this is Laughing Lefou!**


	12. I'M INVINCIBLE!

**A/N: Okay folks, I don't** _ **normally**_ **do a pre-author's note, but I feel as though I should at least try and explain why this chapter took** _ **forever**_ **to come out. After the disaster of last chapter, I have been sitting on this chapter half finished for months with one issue. How do I write my way out of such a scenario? I hmm'ed and I aahhh'd. I spend hours pouring over my decisions and trying to figure out what would salvage a situation that I'd screwed up.**

 **And in the end, I said screw it. Writing something is better than writing nothing at all, and at the very least, if I can get this arc over with, we can go back to more humor. My biggest worry was writing the resolution out in a way that didn't feel satisfactory, thus making the** _ **entire**_ **arc terrible. So** _ **hopefully**_ **this will satisfy most of you, and to those who aren't, well, we'll be back to form next chapter.**

 **So here's the deal. This chapter** _ **does**_ **end this particular arc (one could consider this the Jaundice arc of my story) but Jaune also continues to act like an idiot for the first half of the chapter. If this is an issue, you might want to skip this chapter, but if you do want to see how this arc concludes, then read on. Without further ado...**

* * *

 **Unwinnable**

 **Chapter 12: I'M INVINCIBLE!**

* * *

The next few days were some of the most awkward that Jaune had ever experienced in his pre-hunting career. In fact, things would have been especially hellacious if he hadn't been planning for the fight against Cardin and his team. The next three days after he'd set up his plan, he'd busied himself with studying Cardin and his team, and after sneaking around and investigating them, he'd come to one single conclusion.

Victory was all but guaranteed. Cardin and his team refused to take their education seriously, spent most of their time bullying weaker students or partying. How they'd ever made it to Beacon was beyond Jaune, honestly. Either way, with a little bit of brainpower, and with his team at his back, he'd be able to humiliate Cardin for his statement in front of everyone. Some might have called it overkill, or an overreaction, but Jaune had always had a great deal of pride in his family; and to have someone as asinine as Cardin dismiss his family name boiled his blood. Even people back in Vacuo Preparatory School had known better than to snub the Arc family name in front of Jaune.

So distracted as he was, he even barely recognized that the situation with RWBY had become worse. Blake was all but gone most of the time, Yang's temper was looking more and more frayed by the hour, Weiss had become even more frosty and Ruby looked at wits end, barely holding herself together despite her constant attempts to meet Weiss halfway. Things weren't much better between him and Yang; while she wasn't angry with him, the disappointed looks she'd send his way every so often honestly hurt.

His own team was...ambivalent. None of them were really angry or seemed upset, but Pyrrha seemed less upbeat, and Ren and Nora seemed to be a little more distant with him. Not unfriendly, but Nora wasn't as energetic around him, nor Ren as present. Still, he'd totally fix things, once this debacle with Cardin was done and over with. He was sure that Team RWBY could fix their issues by themselves, and he was sure that given time, Yang and Pyrrha would forgive him. Heck, Ruby would end up stronger for this, wouldn't she? She'd figure out how to fix the issue herself, become a stronger leader, and best of all, he wouldn't end up making anyone any more interested in him! Everything would fix itself if given enough time. _Yeah, and pigs could fly_ … Jaune's mind snipped back.

Jaune tapped his pencil upon the notebook he had open before him at his dorm desk, the silence

of the dorm room stifling. Jaune stared at the paper for a few seconds and suddenly his head dropped down onto the notepaper. He had too many problems and not enough solutions. He couldn't help it though; every time he started thinking about how he could fix the problem with Pyrrha and Yang, his thoughts drifted to Cardin's insult and his blood began to boil. Jaune wasn't usually quick to anger, but he held his family in high regard; not just his heroic ancestors, but his wise, strong father, his kind, beautiful mother and his incredible sisters all whom had supported and protected him his life over. To have someone so arrogant, stupid and from what his studying had uncovered, inhumane, insult his family like that was more than he could bear.

It was a familiar anger, now that he thought about it. Wasn't this a similar situation as to what he'd dealt with in Vacuo with that...who was it again? Winter? Yeah, that was it. Although, in that scenario he had literally the entire graduating class of Vacuo Preparatory School at his beck and call. Still, if he could match wits with Winter Schnee and win (even if he _did_ technically cheat) then Cardin wouldn't be an issue. Once he was dealt with, he was certain that the issues between he, his team and team RWBY would be easy to solve, right? He picked his head up off of the notebook, leaned back and stretched. His gaze drifted over to the cheap digital clock on top of the desk and he took note of the time. Goodwitch's class would be taking place in a couple of hours, and he was certain that today would be the day. He kicked his chair away from the desk…

Only to suddenly remember that the dorm floors weren't the cool tile of Vacuo, but the carpeted floor of Vale and that sliding back on carpet wasn't very easy to do. With a cry and a crash, Jaune fell backward onto the ground, groaning. _At least no one was around to see th-_ Jaune's train of thought stopped as he looked up and behind him, the upside down figures of Ren and Nora standing in the open doorway, Nora looking as though she were about to burst out laughing. With a sigh, Jaune closed his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, get it out of your system."

As Nora could no longer contain her laughter, and the room filled with the sounds of her guffaws, Jaune couldn't help but feel a sense of trepidation, unable to ignore the little voice in his head saying:

 _Are you sure this is all a good idea?_

 **[Professor Goodwitch's Classroom]**

The stage was set.

Pyrrha had joined up with the team last, her damp hair clueing Jaune in that she'd just showered as part of her post workout routine, and team RWBY wasn't too far behind her. They sat nearby, but not next to team JNPR, the space of a few chairs between them feeling a bit more rift-like than Jaune would have liked. That sense of unease kept gnawing at him the entire time, and RWBY's presence, or lack thereof wasn't helping matters any. Was it guilt that kept unsettling him? He clenched his hands and shook his head lightly. No. He'd deal with all of that later. He instead concentrated on watching Glynda enter the room and stand at the front of the class. It was a testament to her powers of intimidation as well as her reputation that her mere presence at the head of the class had dropped the dull roar of the students talking down to an almost dead quiet.

"Students. Today in class, we're going to be discussing and observing the differences in single combat, and in team combat. While being able to fight on your own is a valuable skill, it must also be said that learning to fight in a team is even moreso. The term, 'safety in numbers,' is as true as one possibly could find, and what one cannot do alone, becomes much more attainable with a team. With that being said, I'd like to have Team CRDL and Team JNPR approach the front of the class."

Cardin and his cronies were the first up, shoving and pushing each other, laughing raucously as they approached the class. Cardin was smirking up at team JNPR, Russell and Sky were busy posing and trying to silently flirt with the females in the room, and Dove, the odd one out, was quiet, simply following the rest to front.

JNPR followed second, Pyrrha right behind Jaune and flanked by Nora and Ren. Nora simply looked excited, Ren focused and Pyrrha looked...she looked off. Jaune began to open his mouth to ask what was wrong, when Cardin's voice cut across the arena, catching his attention. "Tch, this is bullshit."

Jaune turned to Cardin, smirking. "Oh, afraid you'll lose?"

Cardin rolled his eyes, pointing his massive mace at Pyrrha. "Yeah, 'cause you have the Invincible Girl on your team. Real brave of you to hide behind her skirt while she does the heavy lifting." Cardin sneered while the rest of his team chuckled and jeered, leaving Jaune seething.

The blond's hands clenched tightly and he turned on his heel to face Pyrrha, leaning in to be heard better. "Pyrrha, could I ask you for a big favor?"

Pyrrha, already looking uneasy tilted her head before replying hesitantly. "Um...I-I suppose?"

Jaune took a deep breath. "Could you...maybe...you know...sit this one out?"

Pyrrha's eyes widened. "W-what?!"

Jaune almost winced at the look on her face. "Just this once! I just want to show Cardin that I don't _need_ you to beat him."

 **[Pyrrha Nikos' interest has drastically decreased!]**

 **[Pyrrha Nikos no longer has a slight crush on you!]**

 **[Pyrrha Nikos is no longer friends with you!]**

This time, Jaune really did wince, his eyes widening to the size of dinner plates at the message popping up before him. _Fuck. Fuck, fuck, FUCK._ Jaune's gaze popped up to Pyrrha, who was already turning on her heel, her expression hidden from him. The bottom dropped out of his equilibrium and for a few brief moments, he wanted to call the whole thing off. What had he said? He didn't think Pyrrha would take sitting out a battle that she could have easily won herself so badly!

"Hey, wait, what?" Cardin shouted, practically laughing. "The Invincible Girl abandoned you? Oh jeeze, that's sad!"

Jaune, already distressed turned on his heel, practically snarling at Cardin. "No, I'm just saying I don't need a full team to stomp you and your pathetic cronies!" Jaune's hand clenched tightly at his side, his nails digging into his palms. Now he wasn't sure who he was mad at, Cardin or himself. Well, he was already neck deep in this, the only thing he could do was ride it out. He forced himself to calm down, taking deep breaths and doing his best to focus the white hot rage that was threatening to overwhelm him. After a few seconds, Jaune turned on his heel again to face Nora and Ren. Nora wasn't looking happy, and while Ren looked his usual stoic self, there was a slight accusing look in his eyes. Jaune leaned in, murmuring something under his breath.

Cardin meanwhile stared at the three of them, chuckling. This was all too easy; Arc was taking his bait, hook, line, and sinker. He wondered, after taking a glance at Pyrrha who had sat back down, looking quite upset, if after he stomped the rest of her team if he might be able to convince her for a night with him. She was too good for the useless waste of space that was Jaune Arc, and today would be the day he'd definitively prove it. He looked back at the rest of team JNPR and noticed that they'd stopped talking and Jaune…

Jaune was smirking wickedly. It almost took Cardin aback for a few seconds to see such a malevolent expression on the face of someone who usually looked like such a doofus, but he recovered quickly. "What's so funny, Arc? You really think you and the rest of your sad sack of a team can really beat us? Should have kept Nikos around, you could have at least had one victory under your belt!" Behind Cardin, the rest of his team snickered and guffawed at Cardin's bravado.

The smile never left Jaune's face though. Instead he unsheathed Crocea Mors and twirled it a couple of times experimentally. "You're an idiot for agreeing to this in the first place, but then again, I suppose you've got to compensate for something. Oh, wait, I'm sorry, that's why you've got such the large weapon, hm? Terrified that the rest of Beacon will find out that your weapon is the only thing you've got hanging below the belt, so you've got to attack others to make yourself feel big, is that it?"

Cardin snarled and brandished his mace. "Excuse me, Arc?"

Jaune smacked himself in the face with the palm of his hand. "Oh, stupid me, I forgot! Let me put it into terms you can understand. The only people impressed with the size of your dick in Beacon are your teammates!"

"W-w-what?!" Russel spat out, as the rest of CRDL growled and snarled at the insult. "I-I do _not_ like Cardin's dick!"

"Sorry, what's that?" Jaune queried, digging into one ear with a pinky finger. "Can't understand you; maybe you should stop sucking your leader off so much."

If CRDL wasn't focused on Jaune, they were now, absolutely furious. Any retort they might have had was interrupted, however, by the re-arrival of Goodwitch who had returned from adjusting the machine for the arena barrier. "Alright, is everyone ready?" Jaune nodded, the smirk never leaving his face. Nora and Ren exchanged glances, before the two of them met Pyrrha's gaze. "Mr. Arc, where is your fourth teammate?"

"Tch, she ditched him, knowing how much he sucks." Cardin sneered, brandishing his mace.

"I had asked Pyrrha to sit this out, as I felt her presence would be an unfair advantage." Jaune explained. Goodwitch silently looked toward Pyrrha who simply nodded from her seat and looked away.

"That would put you at a disadvantage though, Mr. Arc." Glynda retorted, looking a bit confused at Jaune's decision.

"That's quite alright, I'm sure the three of us will have no problem." Jaune responded as he continued to stare right at CRDL, all of whom looked like they were itching to destroy Jaune for his earlier commentary. Just as Jaune had fallen for Cardin's taunt, so too did CRDL fall for Jaune's. Knowing that attacking their fragile masculinity would put him under their combined ire, they were falling perfectly into his trap.

"...if you insist, Mr. Arc. Ms Nikos, this is alright with you?" Glynda queried. Pyrrha didn't respond, only nodding her head slowly before turning her gaze away.

"Very well." Glynda walked to her seat and there was a flash of blue that indicated the shield for the arena had been activated. "Are the combatants ready?"

"Yeah, yeah, let's get this over with!" Cardin snarled, glaring angrily at Jaune.

"Ready...begin!"

"Nora, now!" The very moment Glynda had started the match, Jaune rushed forward at the four members of Team CRDL, but ran at an angle. Nora nodded and hoisted Magnhild to fire a grenade at the ground...or at least perpendicular to the ground. The grenade bounced once, twice, a third time, moving quickly toward CRDL all of whom calmly stepped to the side, Cardin laughing. "Wow, that's the best you've got-"

Cardin's mockery was cut short when he and the rest of his team watched as Jaune threw Croca Mors' shielth atop the bouncing grenade and literally jumped on top of it. The grenade detonated, and Jaune was launched skyward, much to the surprise, shock and confusion of CRDL. They, and the rest of the audience below stared up at Jaune with surprise as he was flung skyward atop his shield.

This, as it turns out, was the perfect distraction.

Team CRDL was so focused on Jaune in their collective fury that the four of them didn't notice that Nora had started moving forward as soon as she'd fired her grenade and while the four members of the opposing team were busy watching Jaune fly into the air like a snowboarder hitting a sweet ramp, Nora made her way next to the team, within striking distance.

It wasn't until she'd swung Maghnild into Russel's unprotected chest and pulled the trigger to add an additional explosive element to her swing that they noticed her presence, and by then, it was too late. The massive swing of the warhammer, combined with the explosive charge detonated upon impact was enough to not only send Russel flying, but to have him crash into Sky and send the two of them slamming into the barrier. Maybe if they'd been paying more attention, they could have defended and rolled with some of the impact, but instead Nora's attack managed to take both of them out, plummeting their Aura's down below the 15% mark. Two, almost simultaneous buzzers sounded to let CRDL know that two of theirs had been knocked out of the fight.

Cardin and Dove looked shocked, caught unaware, but since their attention was now on Nora, Dove was unfortunately equally as unprepared as Ren snuck up from behind, and suddenly found his legs being swept out from underneath him. "Wha-" With a cry, Dove found himself thrown into the air by Ren, an easy target for his StomFlower pistols.. The boy was unable to dodge and found himself getting utterly hammered with both guns of StormFlower, the twin guns peppering him with a hundred rapid shots. By the time Dove hit the ground, another buzzer sounded signalling his removal from combat as well.

To say that it was a disaster for Cardin would have been an understatement. Within thirty seconds, Team JNPR had demolished his, taking them out of the battle before they'd even had a chance to defend themselves or fight back. That was when a whistle caught his attention. Cardin, as well as the rest of the audience who'd been also caught unaware by Ren and Nora's dual attack, looked up to see Jaune literally hanging from the rafters. The moment Cardin's attention was focused back on Jaune, Crocea Mors' sheath fell onto his head. There was a beat, then the shielth popped open into shield form, and a split second later, Jaune landed atop it, shoving Cardin to the ground under his weight.

Cardin groaned as Jaune stepped off of his face and gave a wince as Jaune stepped onto the edge of his shield, flipping it into the air and catching it onto his arm. With a smirk, Jaune walked forward, amid a smattering of applause from the surrounding students. Surely with a display of such cunning, Pyrrha would be willing to let her exclusion slide, right? His elation was short lived when the message stating her rekindled interest did not appear. Face falling, Jaune was too distracted to notice what was going on around him, notably, the warning cry that Nora gave mere moments before the tip of Cardin's mace slammed into Jaune's side and sent him flying, tumbling over and over a few times. " **You!** " Cardin snarled. "You think you're _so_ clever, don't you?!"

Jaune thanked his lucky stars for having an inordinately large amount of Aura, or such a blow could have taken him out, as he never saw it coming. Aura was helpful even against unseen blows, but not nearly as effective as it was against attacks one was aware of. Jaune staggered to his feet, barely acknowledging the cry of panic Nora gave. Commotion erupted behind him, and Jaune whirled around on his heel only to watch Nora and Ren converge on Cardin. While they outnumbered him, Cardin was a bit more skilled than he let on, taking on both of them without much effort. Explosions from the tip of Cardin's mace were keeping Ren at bay, and while Nora's raw strength was a match for Cardin, she also wasn't gaining much ground.

He shook his head, trying to clear the cobwebs from it. There wasn't much time. Cardin was holding off his team, so he could recover, but they couldn't keep it up forever. Cardin was quite a tank like fighter, which would require a bit more thought than previously. With his mind cleared, Jaune took a look at the board. Cardin's surprise attack had taken out a massive chunk of his Aura, just over 50% in total. If he was to win this, he'd have to be careful. The fight raged on, Ren peppering Cardin with shots from Stormflower while Nora did her best to bring Cardin down with nearly room shaking strikes from her hammer. An idea struck. Cardin was busy worrying about the other two, which meant his attention was no longer on Jaune. With a smirk Jaune slowly approached as quietly as he could.

He waited, a little longer until Nora had proceeded to swing her hammer in a downward strike which was blocked with both hands against the haft of Cardin's mace, and Jaune struck. He rushed forward and swung his shielth into the back of Cardin's knees, dropping him into a kneeling position. With his stance no longer bracing him, Nora's hammer overpowered him and crashed right into his face, driving him further to the floor. Jaune, not hearing the buzzer sound, didn't take any chances and before Cardin had a chance to recover, slammed the edge of his shield right into Cardin's face, to the tune of a cry of pain and the sound of a buzzer, signifying that Cardin had indeed lost.

Jaune gave a sigh of relief, and Nora gave an oddly restrained cry of victory. Ren simply holstered his weapons. As Cardin got to his feet, his expression filled with seething anger toward Jaune, Goodwitch approached, the barrier having been deactivated. "Excellent work, JNPR. Team CRDL, you allowed yourselves to be distracted by flashy movements. You should have been more aware of your surroundings, especially you, Cardin. As leader, you are required to be aware of everything going on around you."

Cardin gave a smile that looked more like a pained grimace and answered with something that _might_ have been misconstrued as, "Yes, Ms. Goodwitch," if one were to try and listen carefully. The larger boy stomped to his seat, throwing glares at everyone, but most of all toward Jaune, who couldn't help but smirk knowingly. A smirk that was short lived.

No message had popped up to reveal Pyrrha's change of heart still, and when his gaze flickered over toward where their seating was…

Pyrrha was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

The class took an eternity to be over with, at least in Jaune's opinion. Pyrrha's absence ate away at him the entire time, until he was sitting with his hands gripping the edge of his desk in a white knuckled grip, and his heart hammered in his chest. Did he seriously screw up that badly? He didn't think Pyrrha would be _that_ upset over not being included in a fight that she could honestly win herself! The moment Goodwitch had released the class, Jaune had gotten to his feet and practically bolted to the door to find Pyrrha. Maybe if he could just explain himself…

 _What was there to explain_? Jaune stopped in the hallway, the other students filtering out behind him and down the hall to either side, including Ren and Nora. A sinking feeling emerged from within and Jaune had to lean against the wall to steady himself.

"Were you even paying attention?"

Weiss' voice roused Jaune from his inner turmoil, watching as the white haired heiress stormed out of the class, a very chastised looking Ruby in tow. To Ruby's side, Yang stood, eyes narrowed at Weiss and her hands clenched into fists. Ruby's eyes looked up to Weiss, her expression pleading. "I really was!"

"Oh, I'm _sure_. That sleepy look on your face _totally_ smacked of focus!" Weiss huffed.

"Hey! If my sister says she was paying attention, she was paying attention! What is your problem?!" Yang snapped, her eyes flashing red and her hands clenching into even tighter fists.

Weiss twirled on her heel to face Yang and stomped a foot. " _My_ problem? My problem is how little effort or care your sister puts into being the leader of this team! I mean, despite his lack of combat skills, even _Jaune_ is a better leader than Ruby!"

Yang stepped forward even as Ruby's eyes widened, sensing impending disaster, but before she, Yang or Weiss could speak another word, Jaune's voice interrupted, stopping all three in their tracks. " _You're wrong!_ " The trio turned to Jaune who'd approached, his expression deadly serious. Weiss took a step back, looking surprised at Jaune's aggressive approach.

"W-what? Wrong?!"

Jaune stepped forward, appearing to tower over Weiss. "Yeah, _wrong_. Tell me, do you have any idea what a leader is? _Hm?_!"

Ruby and Yang exchanged glances, the latter's eyes turning back to lilac as she turned back to Weiss, who stammered for a few seconds before glaring and crossing her arms. "Of course I do! A leader is the person in charge of a group of an organization-"

Jaune cut her off with, " _Wrong_! Any idiot with a voice box can give orders! A leader is so much more than just the person in charge! A leader is someone who can bring a group to their full potential, someone who can work with each person in their own way. A leader is someone who is willing to meet someone halfway, to work with them instead of trying to force them to do as they say! All I've seen Ruby do is try to meet you halfway, but it's _you_ who keeps acting immature and refusing to work with her because _you_ want to have the glory of the title of leader!"

Weiss' mouth hung open, eyes wide with the expression of someone who'd just been slapped unexpectedly. While Weiss was unable to find her voice, Jaune continued, eyes narrowed. "A leader must be willing to put others before themselves, to see things from their point of view…" Jaune's voice trailed off as he spoke, and it became increasingly clear that he was talking more to himself than he was to Weiss. "...How can you be a good leader, if you can't even be a good partner?" Jaune murmured to himself. He took a step back, realization dawning over his face and he shook his head. "I'm _such_ an idiot…" With that last mention, Jaune suddenly turned on his heel, not even acknowledging Yang or Ruby, and took off at a dead sprint, leaving Weiss standing in the hall, mouth opening and closing like a goldfish…

 **[JNPR Dorm Room]**

 **WHAM!**

The door to Team JNPR's dorm room flew open and Jaune, huffing and puffing with exertion, stepped into the room, only to be met with the confused gazes of Nora and Ren. Jaune took a look around the room and drew his lips into a thin line for a few seconds before suddenly bowing his head. "I-I... _I'm sorry!_ " Jaune cried out.

Nora blinked. "Huh?"

"I'm sorry to both of you! That whole bullshit about a team fight was just that. I just used the team to get back at Cardin and put my pride before all of you. It was stupid, selfish, and I was a total idiot, and I'm really, _really_ , sorry!" Jaune's head hung further, hands clenched at his sides.

Jaune was met with a few moments of silence as Nora and Ren exchanged glances. Nora spoke first. "Nah, it's cool."

"Huh?" Jaune looked up, confusion written plainly across his face.

"Cardin's a big jerk anyway, so it was great to be able to kick his butt!" Nora replied, adjusting her headphones across her neck.

Ren spoke up next, putting down his pistols onto the surface he'd been cleaning them upon. "Honestly, I don't think it's really _us_ you should be apologizing to…" Ren trailed off meaningfully, and Jaune actually winced slightly, nodding.

"You're right. I...I just hope I didn't screw things up permanently." Jaune groaned, shoulders falling in depression. "Do you guys…?"

Ren and Nora once again exchanged meaningful glances before Ren turned back to Jaune. "She should be in the training grounds."

"Thank you, Ren. I just have to figure out how to prove that I'm sorry to Pyrrha." Jaune murmured.

"Just be honest, and admit your faults. Pyrrha doesn't seem like the type to hold a grudge, so as long as you're honest with her, I'm sure she'll forgive you." Ren explained.

Nora piped in, "Yeah, and if that doesn't work, you can always try grovelling!"

"Nora, I don't know if he needs to go _that_ far…" Ren replied, a small, amused smile stretching across his face.

"Nonsense! Also, he has to wear an 'I Heart Pyrrha' shirt as well!"

"That's just absurd. Jaune, I wouldn't go that...Jaune?" Ren looked back, but Jaune was already gone, leaving the door swinging in his wake. "...never mind."

Nora grinned. "Wonder if he's gonna do it?"

 **[Beacon Training Area - Alpha]**

Jaune was just about out of breath by the time he arrived at the training area marked 'Alpha,' and he paused at the entrance to the outside dirt arena that composed one of the many training areas. True to Ren's information, he noticed Pyrrha going through her motions, using spear, sword, shield and rifle alike in a beautiful dance that had Jaune temporarily entranced. He had to shake himself out of his trance, remembering what he was there for. Heart thumping rapidly in his chest, Jaune slowly walked up behind Pyrrha, who was getting back into a neutral stance, sword and shield at the ready. He swallowed, and nervously, spoke up. "P-p-Pyrrha?"

She paused, but did not look back at him. "Yes, Jaune?" Her tone was polite, too polite. Frosty, even, and Jaune winced at it. Pyrrha stood with her back to Jaune as she awaited his next words, but heard a strange sound of metal and something else hitting the dirt behind her, followed next by Jaune's voice.

" _ **I'm sorry!**_ " Jaune pleaded, crying out. Pyrrha, hardening the expression on her face, turned around, only to be met with...air? She looked down, only to notice with sudden shock that Jaune had literally fallen to his knees and had his head on the ground, grovelling at her feet. Her eyes widened and nervously she stepped forward, unsure of how to feel about the situation. As she approached, Jaune continued to speak. "I'm so sorry Pyrrha, I was an idiot, a fool, a moron! I let my own stupid, _stupid_ pride get the best of me and I should have never turned you away!"

Pyrrha's lips drew into a thin line, and her expression wavered. On one hand, she'd built up a nice anger for once in her life, feeling upset that someone she'd been originally so excited to have been partnered up with had so casually turned her away like so many others had. On the other hand, the fact that he was willing to prostrate himself before her upon his apparent realization of his callous behavior. She stared down at him, expression torn. As she did, Jaune continued. "I know you must be angry with me, but I'm really, truly sorry Pyrrha. I'll do whatever it takes to prove it!"

Silence answered his pleas as Pyrrha's eyes shifted back and forth, trying to decide if she should forgive Jaune. However, Jaune's answer came not in the form of Pyrrha's voice, but a mocking tone from none other than Cardin, who had been walking by only to notice Jaune's position. "Oh man, is that sad or what? Acting like a big hot shot on the field, only to be bowing before your betters like that, huh? Realize you can't do shit without your team, did you?"

Pyrrha looked down at Jaune, who, much to her inner surprise, didn't bother to get up, move, or even respond. One hand of his _was_ clenched into a tight fist, but he didn't make any other movements. Finally, Pyrrha's gaze snapped up at Cardin, gaze steely. "You know, at least Jaune's willing to admit when he's wrong. Honestly, it probably was a good idea he had me sit out that fight, obviously you didn't know what you were doing. It wouldn't have even been a decent warm up."

Cardin growled, and the sound of his armor clanking was heard as he stomped toward Pyrrha and Jaune, hand gripping the hilt of his mace. This time, Jaune _did_ stand to his feet, whirling around with Crocea Mors drawn, blue eyes flashing dangerously. However, it was a gentle hand on his arm that stopped Jaune from advancing on Cardin. Behind Jaune, Pyrrha glared at Cardin, causing the larger boy to stop in his tracks and clench his teeth before muttering a slew of obscenities and stomping away in fury. As soon as he was out of sight, Jaune sighed and sheathed his blade, hanging his head afterward, unable to look at Pyrrha. Luckily, Pyrrha spoke up first.

"Do you mean it?"

Jaune nodded. "I do."

Pyrrha signed, then added, "I just...I want to be part of this team, Jaune."

"You-" Jaune choked for a second, feeling ashamed at the sound of hurt in Pyrrha's voice. "You are. I was an idiot, and I promise, I'll never do anything like that again. I don't care what Cardin says to me, or anyone else for that matter; my team, you included, are more important."

Jaune realized that Pyrrha had yet to move her hand from his arm, her touch gentle and in a way, soothing. "Do I have your word?"

"You have my word, and-"

Pyrrha finished Jaune's words, "An Arc never goes back on his word?"

Jaune chuckled, albeit nervously. "Y-yeah."

 **[Pyrrha's interest has dramatically increased!]**

 **[You are now friends with Pyrrha!]**

Jaune almost collapsed in relief at the sight of the translucent messages that appeared before him. Pyrrha had forgiven him! Mind, her interest had ultimately taken a slight hit, but it was a small price to pay to get back into her good graces. He turned around to face Pyrrha, who had a small smile across her face, and without thinking, he threw his arms around her in happiness. "Thank you!" Pyrrha was taken aback, but she gave her own, small chuckle and returned the embrace, her earlier anger all but dissipated in the face of Jaune's earnest apology. Jaune then let go and stepped back, his expression suddenly morphing into a nervous one. "Erm...I did want to ask something…" He shook his head. "N-never mind."

"Go ahead, Jaune." Pyrrha encouraged.

"N-no, I can't. I-I'm gonna go take over one of the other training grounds." Jaune replied, scratching the back of his neck.

Pyrrha frowned slightly. "You can train here, Jaune."

"I-I wouldn't want to bother you, especially after my earlier stupidity." Jaune answered.

Pyrrha went silent, smirking slightly. Jaune was caught off guard when Pyrrha's leg shot out and tripped him, bringing him to the ground with an, "Oof!" A look of panic crossed his face as he looked up, worried that Pyrrha had somehow not forgiven him, only to be met with Pyrrha's smiling face and outstretched hand, ready to help him back up.

"Your stance needs to be wider and closer to the ground." She advised, as Jaune grasped her hand.

Jaune couldn't help but smile back. "Y-yeah. You're right, Pyrrha. Thanks."

"Of course. Now, if you'd still like, I wouldn't mind giving you some pointers, if you think you need the help…" Pyrrha offered.

"Y-yes! Of course!" Jaune excitedly answered back, smiling from ear to ear…

* * *

At the end of their training session, Pyrrha had left first, Jaune insisting that she go and grab a shower first while Jaune made sure to clean up the training ground, cleaning up spent rounds that Pyrrha had fired earlier as a further way of making amends. Pyrrha tried to tell him he didn't have to, but Jaune had insisted, and Pyrrha gratefully made her way back to the dorm. The sun was dipping below the horizon, painting the entire sky orange as Jaune finished his task, and began to make his own way back to JNPR's dorm room.

As he stepped past the threshold back into the school, a voice spoke up. "Hey, Jaune."

Jaune turned around to see Yang leaning against the wall, a small smile across her lips. She uncrossed her arms and approached him. "O-oh, hey Yang." He'd forgotten, in his desperation to achieve Pyrrha's forgiveness, that he had ended up interfering in RWBY's business.

"Training with Pyrrha?"

"Yeah…" Jaune answered, rubbing the back of his head.

"I see." Yang shot him an aside glance, and the two began to walk back to the dorm rooms in silence for a minute or so before Yang spoke up again. "So, I thought you said you weren't going to help Ruby." Yang's voice wasn't angry or accusatory, but merely amused.

"I wasn't. I didn't." Jaune answered.

Yang raised one eyebrow. "Then what do you call your little lecture?"

Jaune shook his head. "Ruby didn't _need_ help. Saying that she did is like saying she did something wrong, and she's been acting like a better leader than I've been these past few days. All I did was remind Weiss that a leader is something more...and remind myself as well."

Yang smiled, one of those rare, warm smiles. "Whatever you want to call it, thanks."

"Hm?"

"Weiss has been...well, not friendly, but she was real quiet afterward. I overheard her and Ruby talking out in the hall outside the dorm, and Weiss tried to apologize to her, at least in her own insufferable way. I think you told her something she needed to hear." Yang explained.

 **[Yang's interest has increased!]**

 **[You are now best friends with Yang Xiao Long!]**

Jaune almost had to laugh at the new message, both in relief, and exasperation. Of course, he'd lose friends if he tried to simply just ignore their problems. Instead, he simply shot Yang a wry smile. "Don't worry 'bout it."

Yang reached over and grabbed his head in an armlock and began to grind her fist against the top of his head, laughing. "Aw, don't be so humble, Jaune! You helped save the team!"

"Hey, come on! Stop!"

The cries of Jaune's distress and Yang's laughter travelled through the hallway, and despite Yang's brusque treatment, Jaune couldn't help in soon laughing along with her, relieved that his immediate problems were no longer an issue. He'd still beat his Semblance, no doubt about that, but he knew now that he had to come up with another plan of attack that wouldn't compromise his own personal morals.

* * *

 **A/N 2: Electric Boogaloo: There you go, new chapter, hot off the presses. Hopefully this will tide you all over, and I've got to start working on my next update. My own personal work and video games have been preventing me from updating my fan work. Sorry. :(**

* * *

 **B/N: Honestly, Lefou is too contrite for his own good. We got all this bitchy, entitled reviews saying "No! That's out of character! Jaune would never hurt anyone like that! He's the second coming of jesus!" completely forgetting, of course, that Jaune pre-jaunedice was selfish, prideful, and a bit of an idiot.**

 **He was all "what do I do to fix this?" Fix what? The story is happening exactly as it should. Jaune'll learn, and the entitled and whiny ones among the readers can get bent. It's your story.**

* * *

On some distant plane, in the land of ancestors, or dreams, or whatever you felt like calling it, a figure clad only in a white dress shirt sat smugly on a log in a beautiful glade. Red hair piled into a ponytail fell almost to the ground.

She swirled her hands through the air, a vision of a girl lying in bed appearing. "Oh, Jaune. My poor, sweet Jaune. We're just. Getting. Started."

She tapped a finger against the mirage, and the girl tossed and turned in her bed. "Sweet dreams~."


End file.
